A Christmas to Remember
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Post-series, my Pendulum Swings verse. Everyone in Domino is preparing for a hopefully peaceful Christmas, including the Big Five, who are desperately trying to move on with their lives. But a revenge plot against them will end up pulling everyone in. Who is behind it? Dr. Portman? Perhaps Alister, who detests the original KaibaCorp. Or even Nesbitt, who is acting strangely...
1. Chapter 1

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

 **A Christmas To Remember**

 **By Lucky_Ladybug**

 **Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. The other characters and the story are mine! This is part of my** _ **Pendulum Swings**_ **post-series verse, which is largely a Yami Bakura redemption arc. This installment also heavily builds on the Big Five arc I've been doing and continues from** _ **Tired of the Way That Things Have Been**_ **, which redeemed Lector and allowed for the possibility of the others perhaps someday fully having changes of heart as well. (It's a long story.) I leave my periodic notation that I embrace the dub localization, but at the same time, I do bring in many things from the original version that were left out in the dub.**

 **Chapter One**

The December night in Domino City, Oregon was biting. In wintertime, even along this part of the coast, temperatures were usually in the 30s and 40s. Tonight was even colder than usual; it wasn't an ideal time to be out.

The tall figure leaned against the lamppost at the corner, shoving his gloved hands in his pockets. He could see his breath in the air around him, and he looked with impatience to the marquee on the corner diagonally across from him. 11:32. How was he supposed to meet anyone here as planned if they didn't have the courtesy to show up on time?

After several more minutes he pushed away from the lamppost and pulled his coat closer around him, fixing the belt another notch. "I had to be crazy to agree to this cloak-and-dagger nonsense," he muttered to himself. "This is nothing like New Orleans."

A slight snow was beginning to fall from the sky now. He pulled the brim of his hat low over his face and headed for his car half a block away. If the mysterious person who had contacted him showed up now, they could be the one to wait. He hadn't wanted to come anyway, figuring the strange email was just a prank. But his girl-crazy friend had kept encouraging him to go, hoping it was sent by some lovely young female, and finally he had given in so he didn't have to keep listening to the man going on about it.

"Démas Lector?"

He froze. "Yes." The voice was coming from behind him. He slowly turned, tense, and found himself staring at a simple manilla envelope being offered by a short person wrapped so many times in a winter scarf that only their eyes were visible above it. Or rather, the dark glasses they wore over their eyes.

The person bowed, perhaps mockingly, and stepped back. "I was told to deliver this to you."

He inspected it carefully for a wire or other unpleasant device that could spell disaster for him. "And are you supposed to wait for a reply?" he asked coolly.

"Just a reaction." The knowing smirk in the messenger's voice was not encouraging.

Lector glowered suspiciously as he lifted the flap and extracted a single piece of paper. The message was crudely written in newspaper letters and left him no less confused, but far angrier than before.

WARMONGER.

YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL GET YOURS.

JUST YOU WAIT.

He looked up with a jerk. "What is this?!" he demanded. "I came here in good faith because the person who contacted me said it was a life-and-death matter and they would only talk to me!"

"It is a life-and-death matter," was the smooth reply. "Yours."

Furious, Lector grabbed the small man and lifted him off the ground. "You had better explain this! Who sent this? And what have you to do with it?!"

"I am merely the messenger. And you know what they say about violence on messengers." Another smirk. "As for who sent this, well, they wish to remain anonymous for now."

"That's not good enough!" Lector snapped. "Is it someone whose life was negatively impacted by the weapons KaibaCorp used to make and sell?!"

"Wait and see." The small man adjusted his glasses. "Now, if you will kindly unhand me . . ."

Lector let him drop and he scurried off, but not before the scarf slipped enough that Lector caught a glimpse of thick jowls and a very familiar expression. "Hobson?!" Immediately he gave chase. "You get back here and explain yourself! _Hobson!_ "

He chased the strange little man around a corner and into a snowy alley. Strangely, now he was nowhere to be seen. The clean white snow showed no trace of footprints; they simply, unbelievably just stopped. Lector stood there, the snow descending on his trenchcoat and fedora as he stared at the bewildering nothingness.

If that had truly been Hobson, the long-time Kaiba butler, what was he doing delivering messages like that? Seto Kaiba had always hated KaibaCorp's original practice of weapon manufacturing, but something like this was a childish prank. Seto Kaiba was many things, but childish was not one of them. He couldn't be behind it.

There was, however, someone who did childish things exactly like this to try to get rises out of people. Lector clenched his fists.

"Dr. Portman," he hissed.

xxxx

Yami Bakura stood on the grass, his arms folded as he looked up at Bakura in disbelief. "You honestly want those lights hung so badly that you're willing to brave the falling snow to stand on a ladder and affix them?!"

"Of course," Bakura said over his shoulder. "Yami, can you hold the other end of this light strand until I'm ready for it?" He tossed down a ball of cord and lights and Yami Bakura caught it with a scowl.

Bakura had to admit to being amused at Yami Bakura's differing attitudes between holidays. Halloween entertained him to no end, but he could be quite the Christmas Grinch despite enjoying some aspects of the day.

"How will I even untangle this by the time you want it?" Yami Bakura frowned.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Bakura smiled. "It just takes a little perseverance, Yami, such as what you had when you wanted to decorate the yard in gruesome tombstones and ghoulish characters."

"Heh. That was fun," Yami Bakura sneered. "Figuring out how to unknot 300 miniature lightbulbs, on the other hand . . ."

"Alright, I get the point," Bakura said, laughing. "I'll admit that untangling lights isn't very fun."

"How does it even _happen?_ " Yami Bakura grunted. "We merely set the cord in the box, perfectly unmatted, and somehow now it's tied in a thousand knots as if by magic."

"That's just one of the mysteries of the season," Bakura said. He reached to place part of the strand on a hook. The ladder wobbled. "Oh my!"

Yami Bakura immediately dropped the rest of the lights into the grass and ran forward to catch the hapless boy as he flew off the ladder. "And _this_ doesn't happen when you're turning the front lawn into a graveyard," he growled as Bakura fell into his arms.

Bakura flushed. "I really don't know what happened. . . . I thought the ladder was secure."

"I don't trust the things," Yami Bakura flatly informed him. He set his descendant on the snowy ground on his feet and pulled his robe closer around himself.

"Sometimes I don't either," Bakura said. He shivered. "Maybe this should wait until tomorrow. Only now that we've started, we can't really leave it unfinished like this. . . ." He looked to the ball of lights in the snow.

"Why not?" Yami Bakura grunted. "Obviously they're snow-proof."

"Yes, but by tomorrow it will be even harder to hang them with all the snow and ice," Bakura pointed out. He turned and headed back up the ladder. "I'll be alright, Yami. Especially as long as you stand right there."

Yami Bakura rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, but he definitely kept standing there. To his relief, there were no more accidents and eventually Bakura had the lights up—after taking several breaks to untangle them.

"There," Bakura said in satisfaction when they were plugged in and he was standing and looking up at them. "Doesn't that look nice, Yami?"

"Yes," Yami Bakura grudgingly admitted.

Smiling, Bakura laid down in the now-thick snow for a better view. "This is so nice," he said softly, placing his hands behind his head. "The snow is freshly falling and it looks so clean. I know it's not so, but just for a few minutes, it feels like the world has a new, innocent start and there couldn't possibly be any danger in just laying here and enjoying it, even in the middle of the night."

Finally Yami Bakura gingerly settled down next to him, sitting up rather than lying down. "If there is any danger, I'll take care of it," he said.

"You always try to," Bakura agreed. ". . . It's hard to believe it's been over a year since that horrible White Death experience. . . ."

It was, really. That had happened last year at Thanksgiving time. This year's Thanksgiving had been singularly uneventful and enjoyable by comparison. So had Halloween a month before it, despite the bizarre events on a night shortly before it that had restored the Big Five to their bodies.

Joey had been terrified of Yami Bakura's lawn decorations, of course. But he had enjoyed Bakura's party. Even Yami Bakura had, despite it not being the scare fest he would have planned had he been in charge. Bakura's father, meanwhile, hadn't been thrilled with the macabre front yard, but he had dealt with it. He had been less thrilled when the decor had still been there for Thanksgiving, with Yami Bakura adjusting it so the ghouls and zombies were eating (and eating _what,_ Yami Bakura had wickedly said he would leave that up to the imagination). Mr. Bakura had put his foot down about Christmas, and Yami Bakura had removed all traces of the gruesome scene just last week. Part of his grumpiness tonight was no doubt about that.

Bakura sighed in pleasure, closing his eyes. "I wonder if Christmas will be peaceful this year."

"With our track record, who knows," Yami Bakura grunted. "It seems like we're overdue for something to go wrong."

"You're so cynical, Yami."

"With good reason," Yami Bakura retorted.

Bakura had to admit that was true. "At least a lot has gone right," he said. "We're alright, the Big Five have returned to their bodies and haven't caused any trouble. . . . Seto Kaiba says we're all his friends. . . ."

"And that mad scientist is still running amok somewhere," Yami Bakura growled. "She will certainly be back."

Bakura groaned. "She no doubt will be," he conceded. "But maybe she could wait until after the holidays. . . ."

"No time is a good time to be stalked by a lunatic," Yami Bakura said.

"Well, I can't argue with that," Bakura weakly chuckled. He sat up, brushing the snow out of his hair. "I'm going to remember this moment, whether or not anything goes wrong soon. It's been peaceful and happy." He got up. "Now, why don't we have some hot chocolate?"

Yami Bakura's eyes lit up. "That's the best part of winter."

Bakura laughed.

xxxx

Yugi was also in a good mood. The Game Shop was ready for Christmas, with a window painting out front and garland and lights draped above and along the shelves and the glass counter.

"This is going to be great!" he said enthusiastically to Atem as he adjusted a small tree on said counter. "It's our first Christmas where we each have a separate body!"

"Yes, and your mother still isn't sure what to make of me," Atem awkwardly pointed out. He leaned on the counter with one elbow, watching Yugi work on the miniature tree. It made him happy to see how happy Yugi was and how much he enjoyed this holiday, but Atem wondered if he would really be able to fit in with this aspect of modern living.

Yugi paused in tying a red velvet bow and looked over at his friend and ancestor. "She really is starting to warm up to you," he insisted. "I know it's slow going, but she's trying. At least she isn't having the struggle that Bakura's father has had. . . ."

Atem finally smiled in a bit of amusement. "True." He chuckled. "Even though they're tolerating each other fairly well, I don't envy either one of them on occasions such as Mr. Bakura coming home to see what the front lawn looked like on Thanksgiving."

Yugi gave an uneasy laugh. "That was . . . something else, alright. Bakura said his father made Yami Bakura take down the display for Christmas."

"I'm sure that was for the best." Atem turned to look towards the glass door as the snowflakes glided and danced to the sidewalk and street just outside. "Yami Bakura will always be a character, as Marik says."

"Well, he sure makes life interesting," Yugi said. "Now that he's not trying to take over the world, it's easier to appreciate his unique takes on things. . . . At least, appreciating them because it's part of who he is. I don't think I'll ever personally like a lot of what he does in his spare time, but I respect him for it."

Atem nodded, looking thoughtful. "It's nice, to all be united."

"This should be a really special Christmas season because of that," Yugi beamed. "And now with Kaiba too. I always hoped that someday he would be willing to see us as his friends."

"I was going to make one more appeal for him to open his heart, by telling him of the lessons I've learned about friendship," Atem said. "As it turned out, I didn't need to."

"I just hope nothing will go wrong with enemies popping up or something," Yugi said in concern.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did," Atem said. "It seems like it's always during a particularly calm moment that a storm comes."

"Well, for now I'm going to hope for the best," Yugi said with determination.

Atem smiled. "As will I."

xxxx

Lector was not in a good mood when he got back to Crump's house. But he did have to stare at the front lawn and shake his head in a bit of amusement. Crump and his penguins. The yard was decorated with probably every penguin inflatable and Christmas light structure in existence. Crump had been delighting in decorating the place since just after Thanksgiving.

He climbed onto the porch, stomping the snow off of his shoes as he rang the doorbell. Instead of a maid, Crump himself opened the door. "Hey," he greeted. "So, how did it go?"

Lector stepped inside, handing him the manilla envelope with a flourish. " _This_ is what somebody considered a life-and-death situation that they would only talk to me about." He took off his hat and crossed through the entryway to the living room, where he slumped back in a chair.

Confused, Crump opened the envelope and stared at the single sheet of paper inside. "What the . . . ?!"

Gansley came over to look. "This isn't the work of someone with a devious sense of humor," he was sure. "They mean business."

"The question is, _who_ means business?" Lector's eyes darkened. "The person who showed up to give me this looked a lot like the old Kaiba butler, Hobson. I can't swear it was him, but I'm fairly sure." He folded his arms.

"Kaiba?" Nesbitt looked over with a frown.

"No, this isn't his style at all," Lector said. "Besides, he's mostly just trying to pretend we don't exist, aside from whatever ways he's been trying to quietly keep tabs on what we're doing." He sat up straight. "I say someone is trying to make us think it's Mr. Kaiba. Dr. Portman, maybe. She could cause trouble for us and for him, all at once."

Gansley frowned, deeply. "That makes sense," he had to admit.

"If it really is her, this is our own fault for letting her go free," Johnson said in chagrin.

"Nevermind that for now." Gansley waved a dismissive hand at him. "We need to find out if it really is her."

"None of us know where she is," Lector retorted. "We already tried all the places I knew about. And that nurse's assistant who was working for her while also working for Mr. Kaiba has disappeared as well."

"I'm sure Kaiba will continue looking for them both," Gansley said, "and he has better resources with which to do it. We should stick with planning our venture into opening Crump's penguin preserve and theme park."

"We might end up sabotaged," Lector pointed out. "Dr. Portman might do it just to see what we'd do. Alternately, if it isn't her, it could be someone who really wants to take revenge on us for some reason."

Nesbitt grunted. "I'm still not sold on this idea to begin with."

"Well, you do have to admit that it could make people see us in a positive light," Johnson spoke up, adjusting his glasses. "That's why we thought maybe we should try it in the first place. If there's one thing we really need right now, it's good publicity."

Lector frowned a bit. "You said you wanted to stay with us, Nesbitt, even knowing what we were planning."

"I know, but . . ." Nesbitt sighed. "Inventing weapons was my true love. Then I was forced to switch to making video game software in order to stay with the company. Now I'd be designing . . . roller coasters and Ferris wheels based on penguins?" His expression twisted in humiliation. "I could never face the people I used to work with in my old department."

"If more people knew what penguins are really like, designing things based on penguins wouldn't be humiliating at all," Crump protested. "Penguins have been completely kiddiefied!"

"You don't help with that, Crump," Gansley pointed out.

Lector nodded in agreement. "Have you really looked at your front lawn lately?"

"Okay, okay. Hey, I've gotta buy what's out there if I want penguin stuff," Crump said. Deciding he wanted a change of subject, he went over to the end table by the door and started looking through the day's mail. Upon coming to one particular piece of mail, he scowled and tossed it to the table.

"What's that?" Lector asked.

"Something from my mother," Crump said in annoyance. "Probably asking for more money for my father's care."

"At least your family actually keeps trying to make contact with you," Lector grunted.

"They're just moochers," Crump said. "They don't really care. They never did."

"Have you even tried to call home yet, Lector?" Johnson asked curiously.

"Yes, I did. My father hung up on me." Lector looked away.

"This isn't really over that whole name debacle, is it?" Crump snorted. "He made way too big a deal out of you simply changing the spelling of your last name. It seemed like every day somebody was mispronouncing it. It only made sense to change it so the pronunciation would be absolutely clear."

"That's what I say," Lector said. "He felt I was dishonoring and rejecting the family name. But no, it's gone far beyond that now. The day the story broke about the Big Five trying to seize control of KaibaCorp by conspiring with Maximillion Pegasus, I was informed that I was no longer part of my family." He bitterly looked away. "My mother said my father was just speaking in anger and he'd calm down, but as far as I know, none of them even tried to check up on me after I fell into that coma."

"I have grandchildren I've never even seen because of my wife leaving me and taking the children with her years ago," Gansley said. He sighed, a brief, tired look passing through his eyes. "But that's all past. We're each other's family now." He smirked a bit. "And unlike our biological families, we've stayed together no matter what befalls us. That should count for something, don't you think?"

"It counts for everything," Crump insisted.

The others agreed. Lector leaned back, watching his family as they launched into a discussion of Crump's theme park vision. He still missed his first family in New Orleans, but this would be a good holiday season . . . as long as that note wasn't the start of something worrisome and dangerous.

Unfortunately, he was really afraid it was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 _He was kneeling in the grass in Domino Canyon, just having regained consciousness from Khu's blast. As his eyes adjusted to the light from only the moon and stars, he found a lifeless form laying near him and another nearby._

" _Gansley. . . . Nesbitt," he whispered in horror. "Dead. . . ."_

 _Crump and Johnson were sprawled farther away, just as lifeless. He was the only one left._

"Lector?!"

He started awake, almost falling out of the chair. Gansley was staring at him, both put-out and confused.

"It's not like you to fall asleep during meetings," Gansley scolded. "Or perhaps you're finding this proposed venture as dull and humiliating as Nesbitt does?"

"Hey," Crump scowled.

Lector raised a hand to his forehead. "No, I don't," he retorted. "Even though I must admit it isn't something I ever thought I'd be doing."

"Maybe you haven't been sleeping well lately?" Johnson suggested. "Several times you've turned up looking like death warmed over."

That was the wrong choice of words. Lector leaned forward, glowering at him. "It's better than really being dead," he snapped.

Gansley waved his cane as a murmur swept through the room. "Alright, perhaps it's time we call it a night. We'll get back to this in the morning, after we've all had some sleep."

"But we haven't even got to my blueprints yet," Crump whined. "I've made some changes to the original design I mapped out years ago."

Lector stumbled up. "Maybe it is better if we wait until morning," he said stiffly. "Goodnight." He headed for the front door, replacing his hat on his head as he opened said door.

The swirling snow outside greeted him and he grumbled under his breath. By now it was several inches deep. He didn't have far to travel—only two blocks. But with the roads not clear, even this much snow might be enough to be dangerous right now. Still, he headed onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind him.

He hadn't been sleeping well lately, it was true. Most nights he dreamed about all manner of their horrible experiences, from being trapped in virtual reality to Noa trying to kill them to being assimilated into the darkness. He hated the latter especially; he always heard the others laughing and taunting him, and unlike in reality, when the darkness took him, they didn't care. But the memory that came more than any other was waking up and finding that everyone else was dead. Unlike in reality, they didn't wake up. It would probably come even more now that he had received that threat that let him know they were all in danger.

He reached the car and just slumped forward, placing his hands on the hood. It shouldn't be affecting him so seriously, should it? After all, they had all been restored to life by that angel. It certainly didn't seem to be affecting any of them at all. They never talked about it, never questioned it. Actually, did any of them really realize they had all been dead? Did they know about the angel? Did they know how badly Lector had been hurting when he found that each and every one of them had been brutally killed?

Khu had said he would regret not dealing with him in Kaiba Manor. Lector had said he would just have to regret it, since he needed to find Mokuba to keep him safe from Dr. Portman. He'd had no idea how much he would regret ignoring that threat, or that it would be his friends who would suffer because of it. . . .

He groaned and straightened. He would have to get the snow shovel out of the trunk and dig the car out before he could even drive away. Honestly, he had no intention of moving back to New Orleans, but he missed New Orleans' winters.

"Hey! Lector!"

The door banged shut on the porch and Crump hurried down the stairs and over to him. Lector, who was just going to the trunk, looked over in surprise. "What is it?"

"That's what I was going to ask you," Crump replied. "Lector, what's wrong?"

Lector gave a tired sigh. He had never intended to talk about it unless he was asked, but even now that he was being asked, he didn't know if it was the right thing. If none of the others were even shaken up, should he really force them to think about what happened? It was good if they weren't weighed down by the memories. He shouldn't be either. They had always dwelled too much on the past, but now they had been trying to move into the future.

"I . . . it's nothing," he insisted.

"Buddy, come on." Crump peered at him. "We all know you haven't been up to snuff lately. What's the problem?"

Finally Lector gave up. "I just . . . haven't been sleeping well," he said. "It's . . . hard to get used to, actually being able to sleep again . . . and dream. . . ."

"You too?" Crump chuckled. "I've been having some real doozies of dreams, let me tell you."

"Do you ever dream about what happened?" Lector cut in before Crump could start recounting whatever colorful venture he was remembering. "Do you dream about . . . being dead?"

Crump sobered immediately. "Yeah. Sometimes. It's funny, though. . . . I don't remember going to Heaven . . . or the other place. . . . The only thing I really remember is . . ." His voice lowered. "Your pain. But . . . I dunno, maybe that was the worst Hell we could've been stuck in."

Lector stared at him, stunned. "Crump . . ."

"That's the same with us."

Now Lector jumped a mile. The others had come outside and over to them without him even hearing. Like Crump, they were all completely serious. It was Johnson who had spoken now, and Gansley and Nesbitt nodded in agreement.

"Come back inside, Lector," Gansley implored. "It's going to keep snowing all night. It would be more sensible just to stay here. Crump asked us to while you were dozing."

At last Lector nodded. He would rather not go off upset.

". . . None of you have ever talked about what happened," he said as they went back up the walkway. "You don't act like you're bothered at all."

"You haven't talked about it either," Johnson pointed out. "We didn't want to bring it up if you were trying to deal with it by not thinking about it."

"I have been trying to do that," Lector admitted. "Only it comes out in my dreams anyway."

". . . I think the worst dreams I've been having are about us failing to save you," Crump said after a moment. "Or you being pulled into the darkness in the Shadow Realm and not being able to be saved from that." He hesitated. "I know it doesn't help much, but focusing on reality is about the only thing that works when the memories and the What Ifs get too strong. I think about how we're all here now, alive and well, and that we've got a new start. And that's pretty good for fighting off the nightmare fuel."

Lector slowly nodded. That was true, and he should be able to do that too, he felt. Maybe in time.

"And to think, I wondered if I needed to be afraid of all of you after I got back to my body and the rest of you didn't at first," he mused as they headed back inside.

"It was logical to wonder that," Gansley shrugged. "Things went directly from us having a conflict to you being sent back to your body."

"I can't even say we weren't kind of mad at first," Crump said. "I sure was. And I was even madder when I saw you in Kaiba Manor, with Kaiba!"

"And I said several cold-hearted things after we thought you had been pulled into the darkness for good," Gansley said. "I didn't mean any of them, although I tried to convince myself that I did."

"I thought you did," Crump said.

"But in the end, our caring for you won out," Johnson added.

"And strangely enough, that's apparently what saved the rest of us," Nesbitt remarked.

Gansley nodded in agreement. "You were perhaps given a second chance when you earned it by protecting Mokuba, Lector. The rest of us earned it by protecting you."

"That's an interesting way of looking at it," Lector said.

"It adds up," Crump said. "So, are we looking at my blueprints or is everyone too tired?"

"Let's go ahead and look at them," Lector said. "We can be thinking about what to do with them while we're getting ready for bed."

Crump's eyes lit up. "Now you're talking!"

xxxx

Seto Kaiba, of course, wasn't big on Christmas or Christmas decorations. But he knew Mokuba loved everything about Christmas, so for his brother's sake he tried to be festive enough to celebrate. They had experienced an interesting evening of setting up the Christmas tree and draping garland along the banisters. Mokuba was delighted, and Seto loved seeing his innocent enthusiasm.

Really, it amazed him that Mokuba could stay as innocent and untainted as he did after everything they had been through. He even had compassion and caring for many of their enemies, such as the Big Five. Seto certainly didn't in general, although he had a certain respect and gratitude for Lector after he had tried repeatedly to protect Mokuba during various calamities.

"I wonder how Lector's doing," the boy suddenly broke into Seto's thoughts.

"I'm sure he's doing just fine since he's with his friends," Seto grunted.

"Yeah." Mokuba smiled a bit. "Being with the people you love always helps." He hesitated. "Do you think they have a chance of making it as honest people?"

"Heh. I really wouldn't know," Seto said. "I'm more inclined to say that most people don't change that much, but considering all the changes we've seen in people around us, it would sound laughable and narrow-minded to say that." His eyes narrowed. "What I will say is that I trust Nesbitt the least of any of them, after what he tried to do to you."

"I don't trust him either," Mokuba frowned. "But then I think about all the awful stuff Marik tried to do to innocent people because he thought the Pharaoh killed his father, and I wonder if even Nesbitt could learn to be good. That angel Kasumi sure thought he had a chance."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Seto said. "Maybe." He glanced at the clock. "And now it's really time that you should be getting to bed, little brother."

Mokuba sighed. "Okay." Smiling again, he hugged Seto before starting to pull back. "Thanks for a great evening, big brother. I had an awesome time."

Seto returned the gesture. "Sure."

He stayed up after Mokuba went to bed, thoughtfully studying the decorations they had put up. Christmas had been an amazing holiday when their parents were alive. Even Seto had loved it then. He had always tried to make it special for Mokuba when they were left alone, including during the time they had lived at the orphanage, but it hadn't been magical like before. Reality had crashed down hard on Seto by that point and he had known there were no jolly old elves running around the world delivering Christmas to all the good girls and boys.

And what about the true meaning of Christmas? What had he thought about that?

Their parents had believed in it and had taught them about it. Seto still remembered the worn but loved Nativity that was brought out every year. But once he and Mokuba were alone . . . once he had needed to be both parents and big brother . . . had he ceased to believe?

He really hadn't known what to think of God in quite some time. He had rejected the paranormal in general after Pegasus had stolen his soul and he couldn't make himself face that chilling truth. But he had finally been forced to concede to its existence over time. And several weeks ago he had seen what had purported to be an angel. It was hard to deny that, and impossible to deny that after she had announced what she was going to do, four dead men had been alive again.

But . . . they deserved second chances when his and Mokuba's parents didn't? When so many other good people didn't? What kind of God would do that?

Seto frowned, slumping back in the chair and tossing a pen to the desk. He could say that good people had their lives in order while troubled or bad people had made disasters out of their lives and needed the chance to fix things, but good people had unfinished business too. His and Mokuba's parents had had a family to raise.

God's ways were not man's ways indeed. There would probably never be any real answers until one died. And even then, who was to say that one would agree with the answers? Seto didn't know that he ever would or could.

Frustrated, he started to get up from his desk. But he paused at the sound of the door opening. "Mokuba?"

Instead, it was Hobson who came to the open doorway, unwinding a long scarf from around his neck. "It's only me, Mr. Kaiba," he said.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "You were out late."

"Merely taking a late-night walk, Sir." Hobson smiled in that eerie, sort of knowing way. "Will that be all?"

"Yeah. Go do whatever it was you were going to do. I'm going to bed." Seto turned off the light and headed for the stairs.

"Very good, Sir." Hobson stayed downstairs and went into the kitchen.

Shaking his head, Seto went upstairs and to his room for bed.

xxxx

Téa stretched and yawned in exhaustion before flopping over her desk. She was still working at Mr. Thorton's holiday decor and toy store in the Domino Mall, and with Christmas season upon them, work hours were often insanely busy and sometimes there was inventory to be taken afterwards, such as tonight.

It was nice, at least, that Serenity had decided to try working there just over the holidays in order to have money to buy presents for Joey, Duke, and the others. A familiar and friendly face was always welcome. Téa liked Mr. Thorton, but it wasn't always easy dealing with his stressed-out nature. And at least one of the other employees was a disagreeable person who always seemed to be in a bad mood and took it out on everyone else. Of course, Téa being Téa, she could never go very long without commenting on it or scolding the woman for her attitude.

Things had been very interesting for the last several weeks, especially with Seto. Now that he was willing and able to acknowledge that he thought of the others as friends, he was actively making contact with them, at least at school. He didn't call or visit any of them at home to shoot the breeze, and he probably never would, but that wasn't necessary for a friendship. Everyone was just happy and amazed that he wanted to be friends now.

Téa straightened and then leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. While stocking shelves tonight, Serenity had very enthusiastically mentioned an upcoming event. Téa hadn't expected to start thinking of it again, but now the memory was running through her mind.

" _Duke's going to take me to the Christmas dance at the community center," Serenity chirped, her eyes sparkling._

" _Oh . . . that's great, Serenity," Téa said. She wasn't surprised by that, and yet, the topic had caught her off-guard._

 _Worry filled Serenity's eyes. ". . . I should have asked if you had any plans for it, instead of going on about me," she said in chagrin._

" _No, you're fine!" Téa exclaimed. Even after everything, Serenity was still very overly sensitive and sometimes lacked self-confidence. "I'm sure I'll be going, just to dance by myself if nothing else."_

" _Maybe Atem will ask you. Or Yugi," Serenity suggested._

" _I'm sure Atem would just feel awkward at something like that," Téa half-laughed. She was sure he would, too. "Yugi might ask, but only because of knowing I'd like to go. He's not much of a dancer. . . ."_

" _Well, I hope you get to go," Serenity said. She smiled. "I'm hoping Joey will ask Mai."_

" _That would be interesting," Téa said. "Do you think he would?"_

" _Mai needs to get out and enjoy things in town now that she's here," Serenity said, "and Joey knows that and wants to do things with her. He's just not sure what she even likes besides beating people at Duel Monsters."_

" _I'm sure Mai would be very touched by Joey asking her," Téa said sincerely._

" _I think so too," Serenity smiled. "I'm so glad she's back, Téa, but we haven't seen much of her. . . . Joey hasn't wanted to get her involved in all the dangerous stuff, of course, and during downtime she keeps insisting she's preparing for the tournament that's coming up. She's really nervous. . . . It'll be her first tournament since . . . well, you know."_

" _Yeah." Téa smiled too. "You know, it's going to be hard knowing who to root for, especially if some of our friends in the tournament have to face each other. Yugi's not entering, of course. He just likes playing Duel Monsters for fun, not for money or even to win. Atem isn't sure if he might enter. He's never entered a tournament just for fun or for money either, and he isn't sure if he wants to. I don't think Kaiba's entering either. He doesn't seem to like tournaments much anymore, unless he's organizing them. Yami Bakura is definitely entering, since he wants to make a career out of dueling like Joey does."_

" _Joey will be there," Serenity nodded. "He's hoping that he and Mai will face each other. He thinks it would really be fun to duel her when there's nothing life-threatening at stake. It probably would be fun, but I'd be really nervous if I was the one facing Mai. She's such an amazing duelist and person, and I'm . . ."_

" _You're an amazing person too," Téa cut in with a firm smile._

 _Serenity blushed. "Thanks, Téa."_

Téa got up from her desk as she came back to the present. Things had changed so much for all of them lately, mostly for the better. The biggest problem she had to deal with during downtime was wondering how to deal with her feelings for Atem. And while somewhat rattling and inconvenient, she would rather try to figure that out instead of dealing with actually life-threatening problems.

She had to admit, she really did like daydreaming about being at the dance with Atem.

Would Seto go to the dance by any possible stretch of the imagination?

. . . Of course he wouldn't. And why on Earth had such a thought come into her mind in the first place?

Shaking her head and muttering to herself, she began to prepare for bed.

xxxx

Most everyone settled down quickly. After spending a little time examining Crump's new blueprints, they dispersed to the bedrooms upstairs to try to sleep out the rest of the snowstorm that was still in full effect outside. But for some reason, Gansley was still not tired. He paced his room for several minutes before going to the door and stepping into the hall.

Lector's troubled dreams and the conversation they had shared had dragged unwelcome memories to the surface. Gansley was remembering over and over the heartless things he had said regarding Lector's fate after Khu had trapped him in the darkness and it had overtaken him. _"It's for the best. . . . I didn't want the outcome of Lector betraying us. We're better off without him. . . ."_

But Lector hadn't set any of them up for a fall, as they had encouraged Khu to do with him. Lector had only tried to protect that child from them. And as Mokuba had pointed out, them not knowing he was there hadn't hurt any of them.

Of course, they hadn't wanted Lector to be assimilated into the darkness. They hadn't thought he would be. But the others had been visibly shaken when it had happened. Only Gansley had said cold things in regards to it and had refused to acknowledge how he had truly felt deep down.

He slumped against the wall, passing a hand over his eyes. It was strange; he had done many things through the years that were cruel and heartless and felt no remorse for them. But to have encouraged any harm to come to Lector and then acted as though it didn't matter deeply troubled him.

He sighed and pushed away from the wall. Lector was alright, and Gansley and the others had tried to redeem themselves regarding him by risking everything to protect him. That was what he should focus on, as Crump had said. Thinking about what was past and gone was ridiculous and unproductive.

A voice at the end of the hall suddenly broke into his thoughts. One of Crump's servants was on her phone. Ordinarily Gansley would have immediately tuned it out, but part of a sentence he heard caught his attention.

"It's still hard to get used to him being back. It was nice having the place all to ourselves all that time. Now, not only is he back, but the others are usually around too. They're all planning some project together, you know. They're even all staying over tonight. None of them are younger than their forties, and yet they're having some kind of grown-up slumber party."

Gansley rolled his eyes. This was certainly an irrelevant and foolish conversation, nothing to be worried about. He turned to head back to his room.

". . . No, I don't know how often we should meet to talk about it. They could get suspicious. . . ."

Now Gansley was interested and concerned. He started down the hall in the other direction, towards the maid. He kept to the shadows, trying to move quietly.

"We have to be careful about that. If Seto Kaiba gets involved, we're done. He would put everything together faster than any of them."

Gansley hid around a corner very near to the girl. She shifted in the very short skirt that was part of her uniform, but Gansley was unmoved. Typical of Crump to insist on the servants wearing something like that. They were all pretty, young girls, of course.

"No! I don't like that. We should move more slowly."

Something rustled behind him. He started to turn to investigate, but not soon enough. All he could see was a flash of silver and a dark silhouette before something hard struck him on the head and sent him to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Gansley?"

"Gansley, are you alright?"

"He must've tripped on that rug or something. I knew that was a dumb place for it."

Gansley growled under his breath as consciousness returned. Three of the other four were standing over him, confused and concerned. Suddenly he felt humiliated as well as angry.

"I did not trip on that rug," he retorted. He pushed himself to his knees and grabbed his cane. "Someone hit me from behind."

Crump stared in bewilderment. "Why would anyone do that?!"

"Most likely to keep me from overhearing any more of the bizarrely concerning conversation one of your maids was having on her Smartphone," Gansley informed him.

"Yeah?" Crump still looked unconvinced. "What was she talking about that was so concerning? Changing her uniform to some other style?"

Gansley rolled his eyes. "As if anyone but you would be concerned about that." He pushed himself to his feet while supporting himself with his cane. "No, at first she was merely discussing how she disliked not having full run of the house anymore, now that she was once again regulated to being a servant upon your return. Then she said something about not talking about a certain subject if we were around to get suspicious. I don't know what she meant. She also said if Seto Kaiba became involved, he would solve whatever it was sooner than we would."

"Now that is just insulting," Crump growled. "Which maid was it? I'd like to fire her. After I find out what she was talking about, of course."

"I believe it was Cora," Gansley said. "But it would be better to keep her under surveillance and see if she leads us to the truth, rather than just firing her. It's highly unlikely that she would simply tell you what's going on."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Crump frowned. "But I don't get any of this! First Lector thinks Kaiba's butler is delivering threatening notes, and now Cora is mixed up in some mysterious plot that we won't like and unknown people are knocking us out?!"

"That about sums it up, I'd say," Lector grunted. "Are you badly hurt, Gansley?"

"I'm alright." Gansley gripped his cane, his eyes flashing. "But I won't stand for this having happened. When I find out the explanation and who did this, they will regret it." He grimaced, raising a hand to the offending spot.

"You're bruised," Johnson noted.

"I'll get you an icepack," Crump volunteered, heading for the stairs.

"What brought all of you out here anyway?" Gansley wondered.

"We heard a thump," Johnson said. "You hitting the floor, I'm sure."

Gansley sighed and slumped against the wall while trying not to make it look like he was slumping against the wall. "But apparently Nesbitt didn't hear anything."

Lector frowned. "He could've already fallen asleep." He didn't like the tone to Gansley's voice.

"He could have," Gansley agreed.

"You don't seriously think Nesbitt had anything to do with this." Johnson frowned too. "Just because he's not so enthusiastic about our project?"

"No, not really," Gansley said. And he meant it; he was sure Nesbitt was trustworthy. He couldn't really feature Nesbitt being the one to have hit him. For all of Nesbitt's reluctance, he obviously cared about the others or he wouldn't have given up his life trying to protect Lector.

"Then maybe you're thinking he was hurt too," Lector realized.

Gansley nodded. "We should try to find him and make sure of it."

"Hey," Crump called just then, "Nesbitt's downstairs."

The others came to the head of the stairs. "Why?" Gansley asked.

Nesbitt walked over, looking embarrassed to have been caught. "I was trying to see if there was anything I could come up with to make designing penguin rides more palatable," he mumbled. He frowned in concern. "Crump says you were hurt."

Also embarrassed, Gansley averted his gaze. "Yes."

"Well, I didn't hear anything or see anything suspicious," Nesbitt said. "Just that maid Cora stomping down to the kitchen, but she's always in a bad mood."

"She's not in the kitchen now," Crump reported. "She must have gone out the back way." He came up the stairs and handed Gansley the icepack.

Gansley took it and held it to the offending spot. "There's not much we can do tonight. We'll just have to be on guard for whatever might happen in the future. This is only the beginning, and probably just the first of many 'accidents.'"

That was not a pleasing thought.

xxxx

Domino City was completely blanketed in snow that night. Everyone awoke to a winter wonderland, a sight that thrilled the kids and left the adults in varying moods.

Mokuba was absolutely delighted. "This is awesome, Seto!" he exclaimed as he ran downstairs and looked out every window. "We should totally have a snow day and make snowmen and snowforts and all kinds of cool stuff!"

Seto smiled at his excitement, but looked to the open laptop on his desk. "There's a lot of work that needs to get done today, Mokuba," he reminded.

Mokuba made a face. "You're not really going in with all the snow around?"

"I was going to work remotely," Seto said. "I'll try to be finished before dark, but maybe Marik could do some of those things with you until then."

"Marik's not a big snow fan," Mokuba sighed. But he knew Marik would be willing to come over regardless, so he took out his phone to call.

Seto frowned at the laptop screen. The work really was important, but so was Mokuba. There wouldn't even be all this work if Seto hadn't wanted to give Mokuba a better life. But Mokuba wasn't happy when Seto was rarely around, or when he was so occupied with work.

"I'll try to be done by lunch," he amended.

Mokuba beamed. "Okay!"

xxxx

As it turned out, Marik was very willing to come over, but first he needed to help Ishizu with a little matter at the museum. So while Mokuba waited, he went outside to just enjoy the snowy day. It wasn't falling at the moment, but the sky was overcast and threatening to send more snow upon them. Mokuba played in the yard before deciding to take a little walk. Marik was unlikely to show up on his motorcycle in this weather, so he would probably bring one of the family vehicles. Mokuba would go out ahead and catch him earlier down the street.

He hadn't really planned to walk to Lector's house, but somehow he found himself in front of it after a short journey. He blinked in surprise as he surveyed the yard. Lector didn't seem to be home, so he was likely with the others somewhere else.

But . . . if he wasn't home, who was trying to get into his mailbox? It wasn't the mailman. . . .

"Hey!" Mokuba yelled, running forward. "What are you doing?!"

The person turned. It was a tall man, disguised with a coat, hat, and long scarf. Without warning they dug out whatever object was in the mailbox and threw it directly at Mokuba. Shocked, the boy yelped and only barely managed to leap away in time. A small explosion threw snow in all directions as it landed.

"A bomb?!" Mokuba shrieked, looking up from where he had fallen in the snow.

"Mokuba?!" Suddenly Lector appeared in the middle of the chaos. He was also wearing a hat and coat, and stared at the intruder in angry disbelief. "Just what are you trying to do?!"

The person pulled their hat low over their eyes and turned, running through Lector's yard and over the stone gate. Furious, Lector ran after them. But just as before, when he reached the wall, the footprints stopped. He rocked back, gawking at the snow.

"Lector?!" Now Mokuba was running up to him. "Where did he go?!"

"I don't know!" Lector gestured at the snow. "Somehow he managed to vanish into thin air!"

Mokuba stared. It was bizarre, but he was more shaken up about what the mysterious person had been doing. ". . . That guy was trying to put a bomb in your mailbox!" he burst out. "Then he just turned and threw it at me!"

"It didn't look bad enough to do any serious damage, so it must've been another warning," Lector snarled. "But to throw it at a child - !" His eyes flashed.

"I'm okay," Mokuba said. "What do you mean, 'another warning'?! And where did you come from, anyway? I thought you weren't home. . . ."

"I wasn't," Lector said. "I was taking a walk from Crump's house. And . . ." He sighed. "Well, I'd say it's not anything for you to get involved in, only now it looks like you are involved in it. Someone threatened all of the Big Five last night. Now this!"

"That's awful!" Mokuba exclaimed. "What are they threatening you about?"

Lector sighed in resignation. "They called me a warmonger and said we'd all suffer."

"Uh oh." Mokuba frowned.

Lector peered at him. "You don't have any idea who's behind this, do you?"

"No," Mokuba quickly said. "Not positively." He shifted. He didn't want to say something that could get an innocent person in trouble. But he had to admit that the bomber's coat had seemed familiar. And combined with the knowledge that they were apparently upset about the original direction of KaibaCorp, Mokuba couldn't help but be put in mind of a specific person. Still, he couldn't really believe that person would stoop to putting bombs in mailboxes, or throwing them at him, even if they weren't strong enough to cause fatal damage.

Lector frowned. "You're thinking of someone. I can tell."

"Yeah. . . . But I'm really sure he wouldn't do something like this!" Mokuba turned to go. "I'll talk to him myself and see what he has to say." He ran off before Lector could reply.

xxxx

Marik was just turning onto the Kaibas' street when Mokuba got back to the right block. He hurried over to his friend, who was pulling up in the family van. Marik looked out the window in surprise. "Mokuba?"

Mokuba ran up to the door to greet the Egyptian boy. "Hey, Marik," he said. "We've got a problem."

Marik tensed. "What happened?"

Mokuba climbed into the passenger seat, explaining everything in the privacy of the van. "And what really bothers me is that the more I think about it, the more that coat looked like something I've seen Alister wear. But I know it couldn't be him!"

Marik frowned. "We should still talk to him."

"I want to," Mokuba agreed. "I didn't want to say anything to Lector, because I was afraid the Big Five would get on the warpath and figure it was absolutely Alister."

"Someone could be trying to deliberately frame Alister," Marik said. "Does your brother know about any of this?"

"No. I just learned it myself," Mokuba said. "So can we go talk to Alister?"

Marik nodded. "We can go right now."

xxxx

Alister was still asleep when Mokuba and Marik pulled up at the bikers' house. He grunted, rolling over as the sound of the knocking roused him from his state of inertia. Taking the pillow away from his ear, he listened to the conversation at the front door and struggled to wake up.

"I'm really sorry to come so early in the morning, Raphael," what sounded like Mokuba Kaiba was saying, "but . . . um, it looks like somebody might be trying to frame Alister for threatening some guys who used to work at KaibaCorp when . . . when it was a weapons manufacturer. . . ."

"What?!" Raphael exclaimed.

That was Alister's thought too. He leaped out of the bed and came to his doorway, heedless of whatever wild state his hair was currently in. Valon was also emerging from his room, his star-shaped spikes even more adventurous than usual.

"What is this?" Alister demanded. "Why does it look like someone's trying to frame me?"

Everyone jumped.

"Well, maybe it's just a coincidence," Mokuba said haltingly, "but I thought maybe it was a deliberate frame because . . . well, the coat this guy wore looked a lot like yours, and I mean, yours are custom-made or something, aren't they? So they're completely unique."

Alister frowned, folding his arms. "I think you'd better take this from the top."

Mokuba sighed, shifting his weight. "Well . . . if you studied all about the original KaibaCorp, you probably know about the Big Five, right?"

Alister's expression twisted in repulsion. "Yes, I know about them. And I know they're back. I'm not happy about it, but I can't make it my personal crusade to go after every person who supports making weapons and war. At least I know now that your stepfather didn't cause my town to be massacred or my brother killed, so I've tried to let go of most of my hateful feelings towards the company and its employees."

"He has, too," Valon spoke up. "Oh, he was in a right bad mood when he heard about the Big Five coming out of their comas and being around again, just on the grounds of them supporting war in the first place, but he never had plans about hurting them."

"I don't know that I trust they're going to stick to something harmless like building a penguin sanctuary, so I'll keep an eye on them," Alister said. "But that's all."

Mokuba smiled in relief. "I was really sure that's how you'd feel." He sighed. "Well, and about the threats. . . . Someone brought Lector a note calling him a warmonger and threatening the whole group, and then today, somebody tried to put a bomb in his mailbox. I caught them and they threw it at me!"

Alister stared at him. "And this person was wearing a coat like mine?!"

"Yeah." Mokuba clenched his fists. "So I'm really worried about you, Alister! Somebody might want to make it look like you're behind this and cause the Big Five to come after you! I didn't tell Lector that the coat looked like yours because I wanted to warn you first."

Marik hesitated, but then added, "If it wouldn't be any trouble, we would like to see your coats. Someone may have even stolen the one in question from you."

Alister frowned, his eyes flickering with suspicion. "Or maybe you want to see if the one in question is wet and has been out in the snow."

"Marik!" Mokuba squealed in dismay.

Marik just folded his arms and looked back steadily at Alister. "That's not unreasonable, is it?"

"Of course it's unreasonable!" Valon snapped. "Alister said he didn't do it, so that should be that!"

Raphael narrowed his eyes. "It makes sense that they wanna be sure. If things ever escalate to the point that the police show up, they wouldn't back down just because Alister says he didn't do it."

Valon didn't look placated, but Alister nodded. "Come on." He led the two guests down the hall to his room and opened the closet door. "Go ahead and look."

Mokuba bit his lip, uncomfortable with the search. But he pushed through the hangers of coats, studying each one for its intricacies. His stomach dropped when he touched one that definitely felt damp.

Marik frowned at the way the child stiffened. He reached over, taking the coat off the rack and holding it out. "Is this the one?"

Mokuba looked down. "It really looks like it, but . . ."

"I wasn't wearing it," Alister insisted. "I haven't worn it in several days."

"But it couldn't still be wet from several days ago," Marik pointed out.

"No, it couldn't." Alister looked around the room, deeply frowning. "The only other possibility is that someone got in and stole it right out of my closet and then brought it back."

"Without you or the others even waking up?" Marik frowned too.

"I know it sounds ludicrous, but it's the only explanation!" Alister went over to the window, swiping his fingers across the sill. "There's no evidence that they came in this way. . . ."

Valon and Raphael were at the doorway by now. Valon's eyes flashed. "So what're you gonna now?!" he demanded. "Call the cops?!"

"No!" Mokuba exclaimed. "I still don't think Alister did this!"

Marik checked the pockets of the coat and pulled out a small scrap of paper. "There's an address written on this. . . ."

Alister took it. "It looks like my handwriting," he admitted, "but I have no memory of writing this down!"

Mokuba stood on tip-toe to see it too. "Oh no," he whispered. "It's Lector's address. . . ."

For the first time, Alister looked downright sick. "I swear I didn't do this," he said, falling back. He had no further arguments he could give.

"Of course he didn't!" Valon cried, shaking a fist.

Raphael frowned even more deeply. "So what really are we gonna do?" he wondered. "Somebody's done everything possible to set Alister up for a fall."

"We're gonna make things right!" Mokuba insisted. "I'm sure my brother knows a hand-writing expert. He can prove Alister didn't write this!"

"That wouldn't prove I didn't throw the bomb," Alister said.

"I know you didn't!" Mokuba cried. "I promise I'll prove it!"

"And will you be able to keep the Big Five from finding out about this?" Raphael asked. "If somebody wants Alister framed this bad, you can bet they'll make sure the Big Five find out."

"Then I'll just have to solve it before they do!" Mokuba replied.

Marik finally had to smile a bit. Mokuba was completely determined. There was definitely something touching in that. And he knew his friend wouldn't give up. Maybe Mokuba actually would manage to prove it. He just hoped Mokuba wouldn't put himself in danger doing it.

"We'll both work on it," he said. He wanted to know the truth himself. And he certainly wanted Mokuba kept safe. If he was involved, he would try his best to look out for the boy.

"Thank you," Alister said quietly. "I can't imagine why someone would do this to me."

"We're gonna find out," Mokuba promised.

xxxx

Seto was still hard at work on his laptop when a knock came at the front door. He barely processed it, not bothering to look up until shadows fell across the doorway. Then he stared. "What the . . . ?!"

"Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Lector wants to see you," Velma announced, gesturing to the former vice-president of KaibaCorp. "He insisted when I said you were busy."

"It's important, Mr. Kaiba," Lector told him.

Seto grunted. "Alright. Come in and shut the door." He pushed his chair away from the desk as he beckoned Lector inside. Velma scurried out, pulling the doors shut after her.

Lector came over to the desk. "Mr. Kaiba, I'll get right to the point. Do you know where your butler was last night?"

Seto stared at him. "No, I don't. Is there a reason why his whereabouts should concern me?"

"I think so. Someone wanted to meet me on a street corner last night. They were late, and when they finally bothered to show up, they gave me this." Lector took a manilla envelope out of his coat and handed it to Seto. "I couldn't see him very well under the heavy scarf he was wearing, but he looked a lot like your butler."

Seto opened the envelope and slid the piece of paper out. His eyes flickered as he read it, and when he looked up again, flecks of anger and annoyance were clearly visible within them. "And just why would my butler deliver this to you?" His voice had gained an edge.

"I don't know, but I want to find out. And after this morning, you should too. If you really care about your little brother, that is." Lector took the paper back.

That brought Seto out of the chair so fast he almost knocked it over. "What? What happened this morning?!"

Lector stared at him. "Mokuba didn't tell you yet?!"

"What about Mokuba?!" Seto boomed.

"Somebody was putting a bomb in my mailbox," Lector told him. "Not a serious one, but bad enough. When Mokuba tried to stop them, they threw it at him!"

Seto went sheet-white. "Where is he now?!"

"He ran off saying he wanted to talk to somebody about it before telling me who he suspected," Lector said.

"Well, he hasn't come back here," Seto said. "You mean you think Hobson did this too?!"

"No. Whoever did this wasn't Hobson," Lector replied.

Seto stormed to the doors. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this right now. If Hobson knows anything about it, he's going to be sorry!" He threw open the doors, only to find Velma nervously dusting a table nearby. "Where's Hobson?!" he practically bellowed.

Velma jumped a mile. "He . . . he should be down the hall in the library," she stammered.

Seto headed there without a word, Lector trailing after him. But when Seto threw open the library doors, they could only stare in disbelief.

Hobson was nowhere to be seen. The window, however, was standing wide open. The snow, which had started up again, was swirling inside.

Seto ran over to look. "There's no footprints!" he cried in disbelief.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Nesbitt growled, slumping over the table as he dug a hand into his hair. The blueprints were starting to blur before his eyes and he was getting nowhere. No matter how he looked at it, penguin-themed rides were not doing it for him. Crump had tried to interest him with a speed ride based on the Penguin Torpedo card, but try as he might, Nesbitt could not see a torpedo shaped like a penguin as being anything other than ridiculous. It was a poor substitute for the majestic and powerful ships and submarines he had once designed for the original KaibaCorp.

Submarines . . . hmm. . . .

He bent over the paper again, quickly sketching out a rough draft of a concept. What if they had an actual, mini-submarine in the park that could take people underwater to watch penguins diving and swimming from a whole new viewpoint? It was still a step down from his childhood dreams, but it was several steps up from penguin torpedoes and other such nonsense. At least it was something he could construct with some pride.

He looked up when it was done, leaning back in the chair. Crump and Johnson were both still asleep. Gansley might be as well; he wasn't feeling well after that harsh blow to the head. They had all stayed awake all night, alternating checking on him. Come morning, Lector was exhausted but too tense to sleep, so he had gone for a walk and still wasn't back. Maybe he had just gone on home. On the other hand, maybe something else had gone wrong.

Frowning, Nesbitt took out his phone and looked at the screen. There were no calls or text messages. Opting to take matters into his own hands, Nesbitt quickly tapped out a text.

 _You've been gone a long time._

He set the phone to the side of his paper as he waited for a reply. He had only barely started to touch his sketch up with details when the answering message came in.

 _I'm sorry, it's complicated. Is Gansley worse?_

Nesbitt scowled. No explanation of his whereabouts, but always with the Southern manners.

Oh well, Gansley should be checked again anyway. Nesbitt took his phone and headed upstairs to look.

Gansley was half-awake when he pushed the door open. "What's going on?" he mumbled.

"I don't know," Nesbitt grunted. "Lector went for a walk and it sounds like he ran into trouble. Are you feeling any better?"

"Some." Gansley started to rise up, then decided against it for the moment and slumped into the pillow instead.

Nesbitt typed his reply.

 _No._

He could be vague too, he thought with a faint smirk.

That, however, did not make Lector's reply any less maddening.

 _That's good. I'm sorry I'm not there. I'll be back hopefully soon and then I'll explain._

Nesbitt shoved the phone back in his pocket. "I might've had better luck if I'd called him outright," he grumbled.

Gansley gave a weary smirk. "Not if he wasn't in a position to talk at the time." He had heard variations of this complaint before, so despite not knowing the contents of the texts, it wasn't really a surprise now.

Nesbitt rolled his eyes.

xxxx

Seto was not in a good mood. The snow had only barely started, according to Lector, so it couldn't have erased all traces of footprints outside the window. And Velma insisted that she had been in the hall ever since Hobson had gone into the library. He couldn't have come back out through the mansion without her seeing. So that left a very bizarre situation in which the strange little man had literally vanished without a trace and absolutely no explanation.

At least Mokuba was alright. Seto had immediately called him and learned that he and Marik were on their way back from talking to Alister. Mokuba had explained the apparent frame and had begged Seto to help him prove Alister's innocence. Seto was not pleased, but he had agreed.

Lector looked very tense as Seto hung up. "What was that all about?" he demanded. "Who is it Mokuba suspected and went to see?"

"Someone who hates war," Seto replied. "It looks like someone is deliberately framing him for what's happening to you and the others."

"Are you so sure it's just a frame?" Lector frowned.

"Fairly sure." Seto looked to him. "Strange, isn't it? Hobson seems to be involved, which could make me a suspect. Now they try to make it look like this other man is mixed up in it as well."

"But why?!" Lector burst out. "Why would they want to cast suspicion on people who don't have anything to do with this?! And why would your butler be involved anyway?!"

"You can bet I'm going to ask him when we find him," Seto growled.

xxxx

Yami Bakura watched as Bakura draped a garland along the wall above the living room couch. "Is that the last one?" he grunted.

"Except for the ones on the tree," Bakura playfully retorted while reaching into the decoration box on the couch. He took out a golden garland and started stringing it around the Christmas tree that had been set up facing their corner windows. "Won't you help, Yami?"

Yami Bakura grunted. "Exactly what am I supposed to do?"

"Pick something out of the box," Bakura said. "Anything! Then just bring it to the tree."

Yami Bakura shrugged and selected a blue ball ornament. He hung it on a branch near him and watched Bakura continue to hang the garland. After a moment, half-curious, half-starting to enjoy himself, he took another ornament and placed it on the tree as well.

Bakura smiled. It was a strange experience for the old thief. They had decorated a tree last year as well, and Yami Bakura had been even grouchier then, at least at first. Eventually he had caught the spirit and started to enjoy it, as he was now.

"We need to go Christmas shopping soon," Bakura said.

"Getting things for everyone will be costly," Yami Bakura pointed out.

"Well . . ." Bakura's eyes twinkled. "I was just going to get crafting supplies. I'm going to carve gifts for everyone."

Now Yami Bakura perked up. "You're going to start woodworking again?"

Bakura nodded. "It seems like the right time. And if this turns out well, I thought I might try taking it up as a craft for work and selling pieces online."

Yami Bakura nodded in approval. "You're very talented. You should be able to make some decent money that way."

"I certainly hope so, at least," Bakura said. "And you were looking at some survey panels, weren't you, Yami?"

Yami Bakura looked away and shoved another ornament on the tree. "It was just a thought," he said. "You took that survey you saw on that website and they gave you ten dollars for it. And you said there are places that will keep paying you to keep taking their surveys."

"They do," Bakura said. "Of course, you have to be careful to weed out the legitimate panels from the scams. And . . . I'm not sure you'd like some of the questions they might ask. . . ."

"Like what?" Yami Bakura turned back.

"Well, you'd have to give a birthdate on most, if not all, surveys," Bakura said. "Or your age. I suppose you'd have to do what you did with your driver's license and other papers and say you're around 21. You said your birthday is on what's October 25th in modern times."

"Which, oddly enough, is also Kaiba's birthday," Yami Bakura grunted. "You're right, I wouldn't like having to answer that on surveys. Do they ask other prying questions?"

"Most surveys ask you what you think about certain products or media," Bakura said. "But some ask about pets or politics or travel. . . ."

Yami Bakura sneered. "I could give them an earful about politics."

"I'm sure you could," Bakura ruefully chuckled.

Oreo meowed and batted an ornament across the couch.

"And I'm sure we could both take some interesting surveys about pets," Yami Bakura remarked.

Bakura laughed.

Movement outside the window caught Yami Bakura's eye and he turned to look. "What on Earth. . . ."

Surprised, Bakura picked up Oreo and turned to look as well. "Isn't that Kaiba's butler? Whatever is he doing over here?!"

Indeed, Hobson was walking up the snowy street in complete determination. When he turned up the walkway to the Bakura house, Yami Bakura was ready. He went over and threw the door open. "What brings you here?" he asked.

Hobson looked to him, his eyes hidden behind the ever-present dark glasses. "I'm just here delivering a message." He held out a manilla envelope, which Yami Bakura took and opened. As with Lector's, the only thing inside was a single sheet of paper.

YOU HAVE NOT BEEN FORGIVEN.

PREPARE TO PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES.

Yami Bakura dropped the paper to the porch and grabbed Hobson. "What is this?!" he demanded. "You can't get me to believe that Seto Kaiba sent this!"

"Yami, what is it?!" Bakura hurried over, still holding Oreo. When he caught sight of the paper, he gasped.

"I never said Seto Kaiba sent it," Hobson replied. His glasses slipped down his face, revealing eyes that looked dead.

Yami Bakura rocked back in disbelief. "What . . ."

In the next moment, Hobson completely vanished from his grasp.

Oreo yowled.

"Oh my," Bakura gasped. "Whatever is going on?!"

Yami Bakura bent and picked up the now-damp paper and the envelope. "I don't know, but we're going to find out," he snarled. "What's Kaiba's number?"

xxxx

Seto was also in disbelief when he took Yami Bakura's phone call moments later. "What do you mean, Hobson's eyes looked dead?" he burst out.

"They looked soulless, as the Big Four's eyes did after Dr. Portman revived them without their souls," Yami Bakura replied. "Alternately, he could have been mind-controlled."

Seto's expression contorted in frustration. There always had to be something paranormal going on. "And he disappeared right while you were holding on to him?!"

"Bakura saw it too," Yami Bakura growled. "It happened."

Seto raised a hand to his forehead. This day was more overwhelming by the minute. "Hobson seems to be at the center of a threatening plot against the Big Five," he said. "And now you're part of the mix." Suddenly he went stiff. "Oh no. That woman, Dr. Portman! Lector said she was after me and you both. What's happening now could be part of that plot!"

"I don't deny that could be true, but would she be able to mind-control Hobson?" Yami Bakura flatly asked.

"You're asking me?" Seto snorted. "I don't know who can do what anymore. But are you sure he couldn't have simply been drugged?"

". . . That's possible," Yami Bakura conceded. Odd, how he automatically thought of paranormal explanations while Seto still tried to think of other possibilities to begin with. "But considering he vanished while I was holding him, and his appearance wasn't simply a hallucination, someone with magical abilities must be involved. I'm quite sure Dr. Portman does not fall into that category."

"Me too," Seto groaned.

"You know what else?" Bakura said in the background. "I think it's time to get the whole gang together to talk about this."

Seto was not pleased. "Enough people are mixed up in this already," he retorted. "There's also an apparent plot to frame Alister for this mess with the Big Five."

Bakura came forward and leaned into the phone. "I know you don't want the others to get hurt," he said. "I felt the same way whenever I had a problem. But they'll want to help. And maybe with more people working on the problem, we'll figure it out much sooner."

"Not just that, but you realize they'll probably end up involved sooner or later anyway," Yami Bakura pointed out.

"Ugh." Seto slumped back. "Alright. Call them and come over."

"We'll all be there!" Bakura promised.

xxxx

Everyone was very concerned and disturbed by the news, of course, and naturally, as Bakura knew, they were all ready and willing to help solve the case.

"What the heck's going on around here?!" Joey cried as he and the others alternately climbed into Solomon's truck and Duke's car for a drive to Kaiba Manor. "Everything's all peaceful and quiet for a month and then suddenly everything goes kablooey!"

"You're really surprised?" Duke grunted. "I'm only surprised things didn't go wrong sooner."

"And this is totally nuts!" Joey ranted on. "Kaiba getting framed makes sense, but Alister? Why'd they drag him into it?! And Yami Bakura?!"

"Dr. Portman did want to hurt both Kaiba and Yami Bakura, Joey," Yugi said in concern. "But I don't understand framing Alister either, unless it's just because they figured he would make a good target."

"I'll go pick up Téa and Serenity from work," Duke volunteered.

Joey scowled. "Serenity doesn't have to come!"

"She'll want to," Duke countered. "And I'll bet Mai would like to help out too."

That didn't lighten Joey's mood. "I don't wanna put Mai in danger. . . ."

"But I'm sure Mai would like to feel involved," Atem said. "She may feel hurt if we keep excluding her. Let's go talk to her, Joey."

Joey gave a heavy sigh. "Okay."

xxxx

Mai was in the living room of the house she had bought, looking through her cards for what seemed the umpteenth time. The tournament was going to be held soon and she had to be ready. Of course, she had been telling herself that for weeks. And no matter how many times she got out her cards and looked through them and tried to affirm to herself that she had picked the right ones for her new deck, she still suffered with doubts.

She wasn't well-liked by tournament-goers or even by the other Duelists. At least, she hadn't been in the past. The mocking words she had heard from people during the small tournaments after Battle City still rang through her mind.

" _She's nothing . . . a nobody. . . ."_

" _She came in, like, 8th place at Duelist Kingdom."_

" _Wow, now I feel silly for losing to her."_

Mai glared at the table. Her self-confidence had always been low, really. She tried to be strong, and brave, but it was all just an act, a front. Yami Marik had exposed that and left the real her vulnerable and bare, prey to all of his cruel psychological torture. He had broken her, and even though Joey and the others had tried their best to mend her heart and soul, traces of the damage were still there.

Well, one thing she knew for sure: she wasn't alone. Joey and Yugi and Atem and Serenity and Téa and everyone else were all in her corner. And that was more than enough reason for her to be able to find the bravery and the fighting spirit within herself again. They knew she had it. Maybe someday, with their belief in her, she would be able to reclaim that belief for herself.

The ringing of the doorbell startled her and the cards she was starting to gather in her hands fell back to the table. "I'm coming!" she called, wondering who on Earth was coming out to visit her on such a snowy day. Maybe Joey wanted to see if she would make snow characters with him or something. She had to smirk at the thought.

"Joey, Yugi, everyone," she gasped in surprise when she opened the door.

"Hey, Mai," Joey greeted, and everyone else followed suit. "How're you doing?"

"Oh . . . just getting ready for the tournament." She smirked and winked at him. "And you'd better watch out, Buster, because I have some new cards this round."

"Me too!" Joey grinned. "Man, it'll be awesome if we face each other!" Tristan elbowed him and he sighed, his excitement fading. "But . . . uh . . . this isn't exactly a social call."

"I kind of wondered," Mai admitted. "So what's up?"

"I'm afraid it's trouble, Mai," Atem said. "Someone is threatening the Big Five and trying to implicate several different people."

"You don't think they'll implicate me?" Mai blinked in surprise. She hadn't been thrilled when Joey had come to tell her about the Big Five being out of their comas, but when he had said they were trying to restart their lives she had let it go. After all, who was she to deny anyone their chance for redemption?

"I don't know what's gonna happen!" Joey exclaimed. "Kaiba's butler is delivering threatening notes and disappearing into thin air! Someone's throwing bombs and framing Alister for it!"

"And Yami Bakura's been targeted too," Tristan added.

"We're all going out to Kaiba Manor to talk about things in detail with Kaiba," Yugi said.

Mai perked up. "Then I'm in," she declared. "I'll get my Duel Disk and come with you."

"Duel Disk?" Yugi blinked.

"Hey, around here, you never know when you might have to duel to save the world," Mai said, and no one could disagree.

xxxx

Crump was still exhausted when he woke up. It had been a long and concerning and confusing night, and what little sleep he had gotten hadn't been particularly restful. He grumbled to himself, looking at the digital clock through half-open eyes. Then he snapped awake. "Oh brother! It's that late?!"

He leaped out of bed. Was Gansley feeling any better? Were the others still checking on him? And what about Cora? What mischief was she up to today? He really shouldn't have let himself sleep so long.

As he hurried into the hallway, everything seemed eerily quiet. Maybe everyone else was asleep. Or for all he knew, maybe Cora's mysterious friend had cracked them all on the head and left them scattered all over the place. It was downright creepy, to think that someone capable of and willing to assault his friends was running loose in the house and might even be working there. If he was paying a creep like that, he sure didn't want to pay them any more.

The floor creaked down the hall and he turned with a start. Nesbitt had just gone into one of the empty guest rooms. Confused, Crump followed him through the open doorway and watched as he opened a closet and set what looked like a dark fedora on one of the shelves.

"Hey, what the heck are you doing, Nesbitt?" Crump asked. "I thought you didn't like hats."

Nesbitt started and turned. "What? Oh. I don't." He frowned. "Lector's the only one of us who goes in for them. You know that."

"Then what were you doing with that hat?" Crump persisted. "I don't think this room's even been occupied since some businessman dropped in to visit during a convention. He must've forgot to take his hat with him."

Nesbitt stared at the shelf, his expression completely blank. "I honestly don't know what I was doing." He turned away with a jerk. "Anyway, that's hardly important."

"Yeah, I guess." Crump frowned. Something was very weird here. And when the carpet caught his eyes, he discovered something even weirder. The dark spots all along the way said loud and clear that Nesbitt had just tracked in snow from outside. "Why's the floor wet?!"

Nesbitt stared down at the carpet. "I have no idea. I've been downstairs in the living room all morning, except for when I went to check on Gansley."

Crump's jaw dropped. "Are you crazy?! You just left these wet footprints all over the place!"

Nesbitt looked back to him. "I couldn't have. I haven't been outside."

The most logical explanation was that he was lying through his teeth. But as Crump stared at him, he really wasn't sure of that explanation at all. It would be ridiculous to lie when the proof was right here. All they had to do was look at Nesbitt's shoes. And from Nesbitt's blank eyes, Crump had the horribly eerie feeling that Nesbitt honestly thought he was telling the truth.

"What's wrong with you?" Crump gasped.

"Nothing!" Nesbitt snapped. "It was Gansley who was hurt. Remember?" And he stormed down the hall, leaving Crump gaping after him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

It wasn't long before Johnson came out of his room and wandered over to the scene. "What has Nesbitt so irritated?" he wondered.

"Beats me," Crump said. "I found him fooling around with a hat some businessman left when he stayed here during a convention. He said he didn't know what he was doing with it, and when I pointed out that he'd left wet footprints in the carpet, he said he hadn't been outside!"

Johnson folded his arms. "Hmm. . . . An obvious case of deception and deceit."

"That's just it, though. When he looked at me, I could see he was serious! He really didn't remember!" Crump shook his head. "What's going on around here?! First Gansley was hurt and now this! It's like someone's really trying to drive us apart, just when we're finally trying to get our lives on track!"

"That is a strange coincidence, isn't it," Johnson mused. "Alright, what would he have been doing outside and with that hat?"

"I can't imagine," Crump said. "Maybe we should go check on Gansley and Lector and see how they're doing."

"I'm feeling better," Gansley suddenly announced as he appeared in the doorway of his room. He was fully dressed and leaning on his cane. "Nesbitt seemed fine earlier. He came in my room while texting Lector. They weren't getting along, as usual."

"Why was he texting Lector?" Crump blinked. "Isn't he here?"

"Apparently he'd gone for a walk and was taking too long to return. I wonder if he's back yet." Gansley looked to the stairs.

At that moment the front door opened and Lector walked in, stomping the snow off his boots. He perked up to see Gansley. "Hello," he greeted everyone. "Gansley, are you feeling better?"

"Yes," Gansley said, "but now Nesbitt is out of sorts."

Quickly Crump explained again what had happened. Lector stared in disbelief. "Where is this hat?" he asked.

"In here." Crump led the other three into the guest room and over to the shelf. As he took the hat down, Lector went stiff.

"It can't be!"

"You know the hat?" Crump held it out to him in surprise.

Lector took it and turned it over. "It's the hat somebody was wearing when they put a bomb in my mailbox earlier!"

Dead silence. Then, _"WHAAAT?!"_ from Crump.

"Lector, are you sure?!" Gansley demanded.

"It must be a mistake," Johnson objected.

"I want it to be a mistake," Lector said. He stared at the object, sickened and confused and reeling. "But it looks just like it. I remember thinking it was unusual because it had a purple band. As you will notice, this hat has a purple band. And it's wet; it's been outside."

"So what happened with this bomb?" Johnson frowned.

Lector quickly explained the morning's events.

"Well, that's messed-up," Crump frowned at the conclusion.

"I know Nesbitt would never do something like that to me in his right mind," Lector said. "I just don't know what's going on around here anymore."

"There's one other thing you should know," Crump said as they trooped back into the hallway. "Nesbitt really acted like he meant it when he said he didn't know what he was doing with the hat and that he hadn't been outside. And from his eyes, he really didn't seem to be lying. I . . ." He sighed. "I believe him. I mean, I believe that he believes it."

"So what does that leave?" Gansley grunted. "Is someone trying to implicate him in this?"

"It sure seems like it, doesn't it," Crump said. "But it doesn't explain why he really wouldn't remember anything. I saw his shoes were wet. He was definitely outside!"

"Let's find him and talk to him," Lector said. "Maybe if I tell him what I know about this hat, it'll trigger something in him and he'll remember."

"It's worth a try," Crump shrugged.

"No, it isn't."

Everyone jerked. Nesbitt had come out in front of them, his eyes dark and angry. He snatched the hat away from Lector, waving it at him. "You honestly believe I put a bomb in your mailbox?!"

"Not while knowing what you were doing!" Lector exclaimed. "Nesbitt, something is seriously wrong here and we need to find out what it is!"

"I'll tell you what it is." Nesbitt shoved the hat at Lector. "All of you are thinking the worst of me. I don't want to do Crump's pet project, so I must be trying to sabotage everyone else. Is that it?"

"No, Nesbitt!" Gansley cried. "Didn't you even hear Crump saying he believed you were telling the truth as you knew it or Lector saying he knew you wouldn't knowingly do this?!"

"I'll tell you something," Nesbitt said, going on as though he hadn't heard, "I don't need any of you in my life. We're all back now; we can go our own ways. Everyone was right when they said I wasn't a team player. I'm not. I never wanted to be." He looked to Lector. "And I don't know why I gave up my life to protect _you._ I know you don't like me, and the feeling is mutual!" He shoved Lector, pushing past him to storm down the stairs.

Lector stumbled, nearly falling as he crashed into Johnson. "Nesbitt?!" he yelled.

The front door slammed.

Lector straightened, completely shaken by what had just taken place. "I shouldn't have pointed out about the hat," he said regretfully. "I know I'd be furious and hurt if any of you thought I put a bomb in one of your mailboxes."

Gansley scowled. "I can't picture even Nesbitt getting this worked up over what we were talking about. Not when we were saying he wouldn't do that in his right mind."

Lector frowned. He had to admit that would have made a difference for him had the situation been reversed. And it did baffle him that Nesbitt hadn't been willing to listen under the circumstances. On the other hand, it wouldn't be pleasant hearing that your friends wondered if you were losing your mind, either.

"I can't believe any of what just happened," Crump said. "But hey, Lector, don't feel like you set Nesbitt off all by yourself. He was already ticked off from talking to me."

"I suppose," Lector said noncommittally.

Slowly they walked downstairs, Gansley and Johnson trailing after them.

"Lector, he didn't mean it," Johnson said. "I know he couldn't have. He does care about you. We all know it."

Lector didn't answer. Even knowing that it was true, the words Nesbitt had furiously flung at him hurt deeply. They didn't agree on many things, and sometimes Lector was frustrated with Nesbitt, but he had always cared. During the many harmless spats between members of the Big Five, none had ever accused another of not caring or said they didn't care.

"Not just that, but he was trying to figure out a way that he could feel good about working on the penguin preserve," Crump said. "Look at this." He held up the oversized sketchpad with Nesbitt's illustrations of a mini-submarine in the penguin pond.

Lector stared at it. "Then something's just very wrong with him right now." He set the hat down on the table. "We have to find him. Come on!"

Everyone followed him to the door and out into the swirling snow.

xxxx

Solomon's group was still driving to Kaiba Manor when they saw four of the Big Five run out of Crump's house and down the walkway.

"Well, I wonder what's gotten into them," Solomon remarked.

"We'd better find out," Yugi said in concern. "It could be important!"

Solomon agreed and pulled up to the curb.

"Hey, guys," Yugi called out the window. "What's going on?"

They all looked highly tense. "You haven't seen Nesbitt around, have you?" Lector asked.

"Why, no," Solomon blinked. "We just got here."

"So now _he's_ disappeared into thin air?" Tristan frowned.

The group looked down at the snowy ground. "There are footprints," Crump said in some relief. "They must be his. Come on, we'd better follow them!"

"What's the deal?" Tristan asked.

"Not that it's any of your business, but he's been acting strange. Then he just ran out!" Crump followed the prints along the sidewalk and then stopped short. "And everything stops here!"

"The footprints are gone?!" Gansley came up to him and stared.

"Okay, this is just getting creepy," Joey shuddered. "How could they just be gone?!"

"We'd better find out," Johnson frowned.

"We were just on our way to Kaiba's to further discuss everything that's happening," Atem said. "How do you mean that Nesbitt was acting strangely?"

"He overreacted to something we were asking him and then started treating all of us very harshly," Gansley said. "Especially Lector."

"Nesbitt always overreacts," Tristan objected. "What were you asking him?"

Lector looked over. "I suppose if you're going to Mr. Kaiba's, you know about the bomb threat this morning. Well, Nesbitt was found with a hat that looked like the one that person wore."

"And he didn't remember even holding it or putting it away!" Crump exclaimed. "Or being outside! But he was; his shoes were all wet!"

"Alister didn't remember either," Atem mused.

Tristan started. "You think there's some significance in that?"

"I don't know. But I do think we need to find Nesbitt right away," Atem said.

Yugi nodded. "I'll call Kaiba and let him know what's happened now. Maybe he'll want to help look." He took out his phone.

Lector didn't look pleased at Seto having to know of this latest development, but he didn't protest.

xxxx

Nesbitt suddenly found himself cold, dizzy, and bewildered. He took a step and discovered he had stepped onto a completely different street, in a dark alley. He stumbled, crashing into the brick back wall of a building.

"What . . . just happened?" he gasped. He stared at his hands, shaking. "And why do I have the feeling that I did something I regret?!"

Pain shot through his head and he crashed to his knees, bringing a hand to his forehead. "What did I do?! Why don't I remember?!"

"Why?" A masculine voice that he vaguely recognized laughed from in front of him. "Because that's not how it's going to work!"

He looked up, squinting through the darkness that was encroaching on him from either side. "I . . . don't understand," he rasped. "What are you doing to me?"

"It's what you're going to do to the others," the voice cackled. "You're the weakest link, the most reluctant to let go of your hate and the easiest to manipulate." The silhouette stretched out a hand and clenched the fist. "Say Goodbye, Robert Nesbitt! Goodbye forever!"

Nesbitt fell back. It felt like his entire being was being crushed in an invisible, vise-like grip. "No . . . NO!"

The dizziness swept over him. He crashed into the snow, leaving his assailant standing over him, laughing, laughing, until he vanished in a swirl of snow and smoke.

xxxx

When Duke arrived at Mr. Thorton's holiday decor and toy store in the Domino Mall, Téa and Serenity were struggling to arrange some reindeer figurines while their minds were clearly elsewhere.

"Téa, we have to be able to help everyone!" Serenity exclaimed. "It sounds like all kinds of things are going wrong today!"

"I know," Téa fretted. "Yugi said someone would be coming to get us, and Mr. Thorton said we could leave when they come . . ."

"And I'm here," Duke announced.

Serenity beamed in relief. "Duke!"

"It's great to see you," Téa smiled. "Has anything else gone wrong?!"

"I don't know," Duke said. "I hope not. Let's go."

"Right." Téa looked to Maureen, who was working the check-out stand.

"Go ahead and go," Maureen said in irritation. "Mr. Thorton already said you could."

"We'll make it up," Serenity promised. "This is an emergency."

Duke flashed Maureen a smile, to which she didn't react. Duke frowned as he headed up the mall corridor with the girls. "You have to work with her?"

"Yeah, and this is one of her better days," Téa sighed.

Duke grimaced. "It's good you didn't have to take off work on one of her worse ones."

"No kidding," Téa shuddered.

Soon they were outside and heading down the snowy streets in Duke's car. Now that they were away from anyone who might overhear, they felt free to discuss the case.

"I still can't believe some creep is using people we care about in some plot against the Big Five!" Téa cried.

"That's really a worry," Serenity frowned. "Everyone's just really lucky no one's been seriously hurt yet."

"I'm sure that kind of luck won't last," Duke said. "Especially knowing the kind of situations we get into."

Téa slumped against the seat, knowing he was right yet dreading it with all her heart. "Who might get hurt next?" she moaned.

"Maybe that guy?" Duke pulled up next to an alley. "Somebody's lying in the snow there."

Serenity gasped. "Oh!"

Téa leaped out of the car and ran over. "Hey, are you okay?!" But then she yelped and fell back. "It's Nesbitt!"

Duke stiffened. "What's he doing here?!"

"Lying unconscious," Téa flatly retorted.

Serenity bit her lip. "We can't just leave him here. . . . We have to help him. . . ."

Duke gripped the steering wheel. "After everything he did to us? No, nevermind." He looked away. "We can't fall to his level. Yeah, we'll have to help the creep."

"They're trying to be good now," Serenity said slowly. "Maybe he is too. . . ."

"I still don't trust him," Duke said. He got out of the car. "I'll try to get him up. . . ."

Nesbitt stirred when Duke approached him and started to check for head or spine injuries. "What's . . . going on?" he mumbled. "Who's here?"

"No one you'd care about," Duke grunted. "What happened?"

". . . I don't know." Finally regaining consciousness enough to process the situation, Nesbitt pulled away from Duke and started to kneel up in the snow. "Where are the others? I seem to remember they were hurt. . . ."

"You're the only one here," Duke retorted. "And as far as we can tell, the only one hurt."

"What?!" Nesbitt looked around. Now it was starting to dawn on him that he had been found by two of the kids he had hurt in the past, along with one of the others. He glared into the snow, feeling very awkward.

"Why don't you try calling the others?" Téa suggested.

"Yes, I really should." Nesbitt took out his phone. To his surprise, it was flashing with the signal for new texts. When he clicked, messages from all of the others popped up.

 _Nesbitt, are you alright?_

 _Come on, let us know where you are, Buddy!_

 _I know you can't be alright or you wouldn't have said what you did._

 _Nesbitt, where are you?! I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it the way you took it._

Nesbitt slumped back. "What did I say? I don't remember saying anything that should have been a problem. . . ." Shaken, he glanced over the messages again and finally chose to answer Gansley's.

 _I'm alright . . . I think. But I don't remember what happened._

 _Johnson says I said something. What was it?_

There was silence for a few minutes before a reply came in.

 _You said quite a lot. But nevermind that now;_

 _we want to know where you are. You vanished_

 _into thin air._

Defeated, Nesbitt looked up at the kids. "Where is this?"

"It's over near the mall," Duke said. "We're going to Kaiba's place to talk about what's been happening. It's starting to look like you're mixed up in it more than we even thought."

Serenity finally stepped forward. "We could take you to the others, if you want. . . ."

Nesbitt looked over with a jerk. One of the kids he had hurt. . . . And she was offering to help him? How could she be that foolish?

. . . For that matter, how could any of them have been foolish enough to come over and try to help him when he was laying in the snow?

Téa folded her arms. "We can't just leave you here, especially the way you are."

Resigned, Duke added, "Who knows what else you might forget."

". . . You have no way of knowing that I would help any of you if this situation was reversed," Nesbitt said at last.

"That's not the point," Duke said. "Yeah, you hurt us and I, for one, am still pretty mad about that. But I'm not going to hurt you in turn."

"Please, just come back with us," Serenity said. "You can't stay here in the cold. You don't even have a coat!"

Nesbitt stared at her. ". . . Alright," he finally consented.

He typed his reply to Gansley.

 _I'm coming back now. You can stop looking for me._

 _Are all of you alright?_

Another silence, but less of one.

 _Yes._

Sighing, Nesbitt walked with the kids back to the car and awkwardly climbed into the back. The teens crowded into the front seat and Duke pealed the engine.

"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

"Realizing I was out in the snow . . . and some madman was cackling something . . . something I can't recall." Again Nesbitt held a hand to his forehead. It was hurting more the more he tried to remember. Why couldn't he think?

"That . . . doesn't sound good," Téa gulped.

"That's the understatement of the year," Duke grunted.

"You don't know how you got in the snow?" Serenity asked in concern.

"No, I don't," Nesbitt growled.

"Or why you thought the others were hurt?" Duke persisted.

Nesbitt fell silent. He wasn't sure at all, but he had the horrible, sickened feeling that he was responsible for it. Whatever he had said, it must have been terrible.

"What have I done?" he whispered. He leaned forward, digging both hands into his hair. "What did I do?"

Téa looked back at him, concerned and unsettled. "Maybe we should leave him alone for now," she said slowly.

Duke was perfectly agreeable to that.

None of them noticed as the dizziness overwhelmed Nesbitt and his eyes went blank.

xxxx

The Big Four had still been in the process of looking for Nesbitt when the texts had finally come in from him. As Gansley typed the final reply, he looked to the others. "This proves that he doesn't remember what happened or what he said. Something is obviously very wrong."

"Well, we can't find out anything more until he shows up here," Crump said.

Yugi walked over to them. "You finally heard from him?"

"Yes, and he is clearly very confused," Gansley said. "He doesn't remember the scene he created at all."

By this time the Bakuras had joined the group, and Yami Bakura growled. "What are you going to do when he comes back?"

"Try to get him to remember, of course," Johnson said. "He couldn't have forgotten for any good reason."

"So he wouldn't just block it out of guilt or something," Tristan said, half-sarcastic.

"Highly unlikely," Gansley said. "But he wouldn't have said what he did in the first place had he been in his right mind."

"You're so sure of that?" Joey frowned.

"People who have been together as long as we have learn to understand each other, Joseph," Johnson said. "I would think that would be something you would understand, with all of your preaching about friendship."

"Yeah, sure," Joey said. "But it's still hard to get used to from you guys, you know?"

"Hmm," said Gansley, and smirked.

Yugi, meanwhile, had noticed how quiet Lector had been. Finding that unusual, he went over to him. "Lector, are you okay?"

Lector started, looking to the boy in disbelief. This wasn't the first time Yugi had showed concern for him, but it felt just as strange this time as before. "Of course I am," he said uncomfortably.

"It's okay to admit you're not," Yugi said. "We're not enemies anymore."

Lector looked away. He was still hurt by Nesbitt's words, he had to quietly admit. And yet part of him really knew that Nesbitt couldn't have meant it. He could have been overly stressed and blurted something unkind and extreme. But the fact that he had no memory of it now really made Lector wonder what the explanation could be. Was Nesbitt sick? That wouldn't explain the supernatural undertones, though.

"I'm . . . worried about my friend," he said then.

Yugi gave a kind nod. "Of course."

Seto, who had started looking for Nesbitt after Yugi's call to him, came over to the group. "If Nesbitt really was the one who planted that bomb, he has a lot to answer for," he snarled. "It was thrown at Mokuba! With Nesbitt's track record, it's not hard to believe that he would do that in his right mind. Maybe he was never going to leave it in your mailbox, Lector. Maybe he was just tricking Mokuba to get him to come over."

Lector flinched but said, "That wouldn't explain the way he treated all of us, Mr. Kaiba. Or how he disappeared into thin air without leaving footprints. Or why he doesn't remember any of what he said."

"You know, he could be lying about not remembering," Seto said. "He was sure eager to get out of Noa's world as soon as he could, whether you four were able to go with him or not." He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe he really doesn't care about any of you."

"You can say that after what he did for Lector?" Johnson returned.

"He didn't know he was going to die," Seto shot back.

"No, but he wouldn't have had to push me away from that magical blast," Lector snapped. "He could've just got out of the way himself, and he probably would have if he only cared about himself."

They stood glaring at each other for a long moment. Finally Seto said, "So now you know what it's like. You know Nesbitt cares, but someone is telling you he doesn't. It doesn't feel very good, does it?"

Lector looked away. "Neither of us can help our feelings, Mr. Kaiba."

"Come on, don't tell me you still think Kaiba doesn't care about Mokuba," Tristan frowned.

"I hope he does," Lector said. "Although even when people care, they sometimes use or manipulate their loved ones in their darkest moments. It comes of taking people for granted."

"And did you ever do that, Lector?" Seto asked.

Lector didn't answer. It had been done to him on more than one occasion. But had he done it himself? He had betrayed Gozaburo. Nevermind that he had regretted it as soon as he realized just how hard the man would take losing KaibaCorp; regret didn't take away that it had happened.

"We're getting off the subject," Yami Bakura growled. "This isn't the time for your personal squabbles to resume."

"Great Scott!" Bakura yelped. "It certainly isn't! Look!"

Everyone jumped a mile and looked to where he was pointing.

Duke's car was coming right towards them, swerving wildly from side to side. As it drew closer, an equally wild Nesbitt was clearly visible fighting with Duke over the steering wheel!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Everyone had little choice but to leap out of the way of the rampaging vehicle. As they did, several cried out to those inside.

"Nesbitt! What on Earth are you doing?!" Lector screamed.

"Serenity!" Joey and Tristan wailed.

"Téa!" Yugi and Atem yelled.

Although Seto did not speak, he stared in disbelieving horror. "There has to be a way to stop that car!" he said then. "Or Nesbitt!"

"Somebody could hit him over the head with Duke's Duel Disk," Tristan growled, again only half-sarcastic. "He keeps it in his car."

By now, Mokuba and Marik were pulling up in the Ishtar van. Marik threw on the brakes, alarmed at the sight before them.

"Oh my gosh! Téa!" Mokuba shrieked. He struggled with the door. "We have to help them, Marik!"

"Mokuba, you can't go out into the path of the car!" Marik cried, grabbing for his friend's arm to hold him back.

"I have to do something!" Mokuba shouted helplessly.

At last Duke forcibly threw on his own brakes. The car squealed and screeched. Snow flew in all directions as he swerved, finally bringing the car to a halt parallel with a tree. He slumped over the wheel, badly shaken. "I knew we couldn't trust this guy!" he ranted. "But I never thought he'd endanger himself!"

"Something's wrong with him!" Serenity insisted. "Look at his eyes! They're not right."

Téa looked over, just in time to see Nesbitt grab Duke's Duel Disk off the back seat and leap out of the car. "Oh no! What's he doing now?!" she exclaimed in horror.

"Kaiba!" Nesbitt yelled. "We're going to duel right now, you and me." He slid the Duel Disk onto his arm with a sneer. "What's more, I'm going to duel my former associate Lector as well. I'll fight both of you together."

"What?!" Tristan gawked in disbelief. "Can't he ever just duel one person at a time?!" But he was quickly distracted as Serenity got out of the car. Joey was already running over to her and Téa.

"Serenity! Are you okay?!" Joey demanded. "Is everyone okay?!"

"We're fine, Joey," Serenity assured him. "But . . . what's going to happen now?" She looked ahead worriedly to the scene before them. "Kaiba isn't really going to duel. . . ."

"Oh no?" Téa groaned. "Kaiba never turns down a challenge. And I bet he'd love to bust Nesbitt down to size!"

"But Nesbitt's in no condition to duel," Serenity frowned.

Lector didn't think so either. "Nesbitt, this is insane!" he exclaimed. "If you're still angry with me because of what happened back at Crump's house, that's no reason to act out like this. And I don't want to duel you under these conditions. I know you're not well."

Nesbitt sneered at him. "You know a lot, don't you? You're always asserting yourself over me, always feeling like you're better than me, always thinking I'm an idiot."

"Right now, he's right," Seto said coldly. "But if it's a duel you want, it's a duel you'll get."

"Even if you have to tag team duel with Lector?" Nesbitt cackled. "Remember, this is a two-on-one match!"

Seto and Lector turned to look at each other. Neither liked the idea at all. But if Nesbitt was going to insist on dueling, then it would have to be done. He couldn't be allowed to run wild in whatever altered state of reality he was currently in.

"It's gonna be more than that," Crump suddenly spoke up. "If you're taking them on, Nesbitt, you're taking me on too."

"And us," Gansley said, indicating himself and Johnson. From their eyes, they were hoping to get through to Nesbitt and get him to back down.

In that, they failed. "So I can take all of you down at once?" Nesbitt mocked. "Let's do it. But first . . ." He held up his Duel Disk and pressed various buttons and keys. In a moment, it flickered oddly. So did every other Duel Disk there. "I'm going to make this more interesting. I just disabled all the safeties on every one of our Duel Disks."

"No!" Mokuba and Téa screamed at once.

Seto stared at his Duel Disk in shock. "Why are you doing this?!"

"To make things more interesting," Nesbitt shot back.

"Seto, you can't go through with this!" Mokuba cried, running forward to his beloved brother. "With the safeties off, people are really going to get hurt! Including you!"

"Who knows what this nutcase might do next if I don't duel him," Seto growled. "He could remotely take off the safeties on every Duel Disk in town! I have to go through with this, Mokuba."

Lector looked shaken. "Nesbitt, why?" he gasped. "What's happened to you?"

"Why?" Nesbitt's eyes remained completely cold. "Because I can. Because I hate every one of you pathetic people. You've all held me back! Now I'm going to take my revenge."

The other members of the Big Five regarded him in disbelief. Even though they knew something was wrong, they didn't know how to react to these cruel declarations. Lector especially was wavering. What if Nesbitt really believed deep down that they were holding him back?

Yami Bakura stared at the scene too. He was also badly shaken, but for a different reason. "This is too familiar," he told Bakura. "All of this . . . it's just like when that demon poisoned me with his Shadow Leech and made me try to unleash the zombie apocalypse on the city."

Bakura's eyes widened. "Yami, you're right! Oh no. . . . Do you think he's gotten hold of Nesbitt now?!"

"Perhaps." Yami Bakura glowered suspiciously at Nesbitt. "Ring, scan that man. Is he in control of his mind? If not, who is?"

The Infinity Ring glowed and its beam shone out, scanning Nesbitt from behind. After a moment it finished, flickered, and displayed a silhouette of a man with wild spikes and a cape.

Marik paled. "No! It _is_ him!"

Lector looked over, taking in what they were discussing. "So Nesbitt is mind-controlled or possessed?!" he exclaimed in horror. At the same time, he felt a certain relief. Nesbitt wasn't losing his mind, and he hadn't turned against them. Not that Lector really believed he would, but the confirmation was somehow encouraging. The real Nesbitt had to still be there, somewhere.

Gansley stared too. "How will we bring him back to himself?!"

"Start worrying about how you're going to survive this duel," Nesbitt cut in. "Taking off the safeties strains the Duel Disks a lot more. And with six people in this duel, just imagine the amount of stress and strain that so many monster attacks will put on them, to say nothing of the magic and trap effects. I would calculate that if this duel isn't over in . . . thirty minutes, all Duel Disks in play will detonate, seriously injuring or killing the players."

"Seto, you just can't do this!" Mokuba sobbed.

Seto looked to him. "This duel's going to happen whether I'm in it or not, Mokuba. At least if I'm in it, Nesbitt stands a better chance of losing." His expression softened. "I'll be alright."

Mokuba wasn't at all convinced. "Seto . . . !"

Marik drew an arm around Mokuba's shoulders. There was nothing they could say or do to change Seto's mind. And, he knew with a sinking heart, Nesbitt did have to be stopped.

"This is outrageous!" Atem finally burst out. "Yami Marik, come out of your hiding place and end this cruel scheme! I know you must be watching. You would want to savor every moment of this."

The familiar, raucous cackle echoed off every tree and building. "Oh, I'm watching, alright," Yami Marik agreed. "But you should know better than to order me to stop any instance of madness and chaos, Pharaoh! Never!"

Atem clenched his teeth. "I knew it was really too much to hope for."

"Stop talking!" Nesbitt suddenly snapped. "It's time to duel!"

Lector could only stare at him, haunted and sorrowful. "Nesbitt. . . ." But then his eyes hardened. "I'm going to save you. And then whoever did this to you is going to be sorry."

Yugi looked to him with understanding and sympathy. "Stay strong," he encouraged. "And never give up on him. Mind-control can definitely be broken!" He looked to Joey with a sad yet triumphant smile, memories of Battle City going through both of their minds. "Possession too."

"That's right!" Joey nodded. _Wow, of all the things I never thought I'd be doing, now I'm encouraging members of the Big Five._ "Your friend's definitely still in there!"

"He was really upset about something when we found him," Serenity spoke up. "He was all shaken up thinking he'd said something horrible to all of you. Then . . . I don't know what happened. We were just driving and he wasn't feeling well . . . and all of a sudden he just tried to take the wheel away from Duke. The guy who did that and is trying to do this definitely isn't the same person we found laying in the snow! That person loves all of you. And I know if you can just get through to him, he'll stop this duel!"

"Yes, but just how do we get through to him?" Gansley retorted.

"Keep talking to him, for one thing," Yugi said.

"And duel, for another thing!" Nesbitt interrupted. "I've already got my first monster on the field, Robotic Knight."

"That figures," Tristan grunted.

"Fine, Nesbitt," Seto growled. "You want to duel? Then here. Meet my Vorse Raider!" He slapped a card on his Duel Disk. "He'll take out your pathetic knight in no time."

"Not if I play Widespread Ruin," Nesbitt said, flipping over a trap card he had laid down.

Seto stared. "Oh no!"

"Oh yes. Now it's your Vorse Raider that's been taken out," Nesbitt sneered. "Who's next?"

"I'll go next," Lector said coolly. "I'll lay one monster facedown and two other cards, and that will be all."

"Hmm. Probably an effect monster," Nesbitt said. "You and Gansley like those. And your other facedown cards will likely deliver additional punches."

Lector narrowed his eyes. "You'll just have to wait and see, if you choose to attack me on your next turn."

Tristan tensely watched as the other Big Five members took their turns. "Oh man, this is nuts," he exclaimed. "Five against one! And that look in Nesbitt's eyes . . ." He shuddered.

"Seto will take him down!" Mokuba insisted. But fear was in his eyes. The safeties being off meant this was a whole new game.

Marik laid a hand on his shoulder.

By the time it came Nesbitt's turn, Johnson had destroyed his Robotic Knight. But instead of being concerned, Nesbitt just sneered. "Now I'll bring back my Knight with Monster Reborn," he announced. "I'll also add Gradius as a new threat. And as for who I'll attack . . ." He looked around at each potential target. "I'll get rid of your Flying Penguin, Crump."

Crump glowered. "You've probably been wanting to trounce my penguins for a long time, haven't you?"

"You said that, not me," Nesbitt mocked.

Yugi bit his lip. It was certainly possible that the mind-control was expanding on feelings Nesbitt had kept in his heart, but if the others believed that Nesbitt was doing things he had wanted to do anyway, they would only fall deeper into the controller's cruel trap.

"Remember, he's not himself," Yugi protested.

"I'm more myself than I've been in a long time," Nesbitt retorted.

Seto glared at him. "Your Gradius won't be around for long. I'm using my Ancient Dragon to destroy it."

Nesbitt glared right back as this attack went through.

Lector decided not to weigh in on the matter of whether Nesbitt was just doing things he wanted to anyway. "As for myself, I will lay another monster facedown and sacrifice my first monster to summon Satellite Cannon," he announced.

Seto stared as the hologram of the enormous rocket emerged from the ground and vanished into the clouds overhead. Unlike before, he was not this creature's target, which was a very strange switch from the past. This time around, he and Lector were actually fighting on the same side.

Yami Bakura folded his arms. "That was an interesting move. It can't be used until Lector's next turn, but it gains 1,000 attack points as each turn passes. And it can only be destroyed by Level 8 and up monsters." He smirked. "I wonder if Nesbitt even has anything that powerful."

"I certainly wouldn't count him out," Bakura said anxiously.

Indeed, by Nesbitt's next turn, he still had his Robotic Knight on the field and drew another monster to add to his attack force. "Alright," he said. "I'm going to attack your facedown monster with my Giga-Tech Wolf." He pointed at Lector, who glowered.

"You attacked Hiro's Shadow Scout," he said flatly. "Now you have to draw three cards and let me see them."

"And any Magic cards I have go to the Graveyard. I know," Nesbitt said. "But I get to keep the others, you fool."

"Hmm. But Lector made you discard Clockwork Night," Gansley smirked. "That's one of your most powerful cards."

"I'll have my revenge for that." Nesbitt's eyes glittered with the heartless cruelty of mind-control as he surveyed his opponents. "I feel like launching a direct attack. And since you are the only one currently without a monster to guard you, Lector, I guess I'm going to attack you."

Lector snarled. "Don't do it, Nesbitt!"

"I will anyway. Robotic Knight, attack Lector's lifepoints directly!" Nesbitt commanded with a sweep of his hand.

Robotic Knight did exactly that, slamming full-force into Lector's body. Lector cried out, flying off his feet to crash a yard away.

"Lector!" Gansley, Johnson, and Crump all spun around, looking to him in concern.

Nesbitt laughed. "So it looks like taking all the safeties off makes things almost as dangerous as a Shadow Game, eh, Kaiba?"

Seto clenched his teeth. "Stop this, Nesbitt! You're hurting your friend."

"He's not my friend," Nesbitt replied.

Lector groaned, rolling onto his side and trying to push himself up. "This . . . isn't Nesbitt," he rasped. "Some of the things he's saying and doing I haven't been sure about, but I know he wouldn't say that."

"Lector, are you alright?" Gansley demanded.

"Fine." Lector stumbled to his feet.

Johnson was angry. "There must be a way to get Nesbitt to hear us!"

"Yeah! In your right mind, you were willing to die for Lector, Nesbitt," Crump pleaded. "You have to be in there somewhere. You have to wake up and remember! And then take control of your body again!"

"Ironic, isn't it," Yami Marik sneered from the sidelines as he appeared. He was sitting on a ledge a story above them, one leg over the other and his arms folded.

"You fiend!" Yami Bakura snarled.

Yami Marik stuck his tongue out at his nemesis and continued, "Nesbitt considered himself quite an expert on possession in Noa's world. Now he's the one who's possessed! Hmm. Unless he's only pretending, and he really meant that heartless statement he made about poor Lector."

"He didn't mean it," Lector growled. "You might have fooled me in the past, but not now." He pointed at the sky. "And while it's true that I don't have a monster to protect me from direct attacks, my monster can attack now that it's charged enough."

Seto's card attacked, destroying Nesbitt's monster. "Go for it, Lector."

Nesbitt took a step back. "You wouldn't."

"To try to get through to you, I would. Satellite Cannon, attack Nesbitt's lifepoints directly!" Lector commanded.

Seto watched, a bit chilled as the familiar light pierced through the clouds and struck Nesbitt down. The other time he had seen that card in action, it had been attacking him back in Noa's world. Strange that now Lector was using it against one of his allies, and stranger still that he wasn't doing it out of malice or hatred, but a sincere desire to try to shake the man back to his senses.

"Nesbitt?" Gansley watched, tense, as Nesbitt started to stir. "Are you alright?"

"Are you back with us at all?" Crump asked.

Finally Nesbitt sat up on the ground, but his expression was still twisted in hatred and cruelty. "I'm not impressed," he said. "I've still got plenty of power to defeat you with, and I'll make sure to pay Lector back for that blow."

"That didn't work for us either, when I tried attacking Joey with Red-Eyes Black Dragon," Yugi told Lector. "But when Joey had to attack Red-Eyes, that shook him free for a few seconds and helped overall in breaking the spell."

"Nesbitt doesn't have any particular connection with Satellite Cannon," Lector said. "And I doubt he has a monster that could attack it. One of us would have to figure out how to get hold of Robotic Knight and get Nesbitt to attack it. And even at that, I don't know if he loves even that card enough that it would help."

Seto clenched his teeth. "Under this control, Nesbitt is far more formidable than before. I won't lose to him, but the rest of you may be in trouble. Especially with the safeties turned off."

"You'll just have to keep trying," Yugi said. "It was a long, uphill battle to free Joey from Marik, but our friendship finally won out!"

Gansley sneered. "That sounds absolutely ridiculous."

"Don't forget, Atem and I beat you with rainbows and fuzzballs," Yugi smiled.

That brought a scowl. "How could I possibly forget?"

"Yeah!" Joey grinned. "It may sound like some cheesy '80's cartoon, but it's for real! You guys know you care about each other. You'll find a way to get through to him."

"But it'll have to be soon," Yami Marik interjected. "Don't forget, if this duel isn't over within twenty minutes, your equipment will malfunction from the overload of power due to the removal of the safety mechanisms and you'll all be killed!"

"We're all well aware," Johnson retorted.

The tension only mounted as the duel continued. Nesbitt proceeded to brutally attack almost every one of the opposing players, showing particular relish when he delivered a harsh blow to Seto—to Mokuba and Téa's horror.

"I'm alright," Seto growled as he stumbled back to his feet. He wouldn't admit to how badly that blow had hurt, but he was even more worried now that he knew what it felt like to be attacked without the safeties in place. Nesbitt could do a horrific amount of damage to every one of them.

"He's gone after almost all of us now," Johnson frowned.

"Odd that he hasn't attacked me except to destroy my defense position monsters," Gansley remarked. "He had at least two opportunities to have attacked me directly, but he passed both times."

Lector perked up as he really stopped to consider that fact. "Why is that, Nesbitt?" he demanded. "Are you worried that Gansley might not be able to withstand being attacked with the safeties off? You know, of course, about his heart."

Nesbitt scoffed. "That has nothing to do with it."

"Then why don't you attack me, Nesbitt?" Gansley retorted. "I'm wide open."

"Be careful," Johnson said in concern.

Nesbitt stared Gansley down for a long moment. Then he turned away, refusing to meet his gaze. On his next turn, he struggled with himself for a long moment before finally saying, "I'm going to attack Crump."

"I think you may have hit on something!" Yugi exclaimed. "Nesbitt's trying to break free!"

Yami Marik snarled. "Well, we can't have that, now, can we?" He held out his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist.

Nesbitt's eyes widened in shock and pain.

"No!" Lector took a step forward. "Let him go!"

"Never!" Yami Marik cackled.

Nesbitt stumbled forward and started to sneer. Any possible spark was gone from his eyes again. Now they were only heartless and cold.

"Well?" Yami Marik grinned. "Who will you attack? Will you carry through with your plan to destroy another of Crump's pathetic penguins, or will you do the most logical thing and attack Gansley directly?"

Nesbitt chuckled under his breath. "What do you think? I'm always a man of logic."

"No, Nesbitt!" Lector exclaimed. "You can't take that risk!"

"Robotic Knight, attack Gansley now!" Nesbitt ordered.

"I don't think so!" Crump snapped to attention. "Volt Penguin, intercept that attack!"

Gansley looked to Crump with a start. But although Crump flinched to see another of his beloved penguins destroyed, he didn't back down.

Nesbitt growled. "I keep getting mixed up with fools who do that. Try that again and your fate might be worse than that kid Tristan's was."

"Hey," Tristan snapped.

"We stand together, Nesbitt," Gansley said. "Come back to yourself! You were starting to."

"Heh! I am myself, old man," Nesbitt taunted. "I am concerned with myself first and foremost. I was going to abandon all of you and leave Noa's world when I thought I could."

"I'm sure you thought we would all be able to escape eventually," Johnson said.

"I didn't care," Nesbitt sneered.

Lector debated with himself. That had hurt, and he had been angry, but Johnson was likely closer to the truth. "None of us believe that, Nesbitt," he said.

"Oh? You sure believed we were all against you in the past," Nesbitt retorted. "And you want to know something? We were. We all wanted you to be swallowed up by the darkness!"

Lector wavered, hurt even though he didn't believe it.

"That's not true, Lector," Gansley insisted. "None of us wanted that! Nesbitt didn't either!"

"I know that now," Lector said.

"Shut up," Nesbitt snarled at Gansley. "That's a lie, and I'm going to prove it!"

Everyone stiffened, looking to him in shock. "What are you talking about, Nesbitt?" Seto demanded.

"I have a card called Brain Control," Nesbitt bragged. "I'm going to use it."

Crump gulped. "Anyone got a De-Spell card?"

"Not in my hand or on the field," Seto growled. "And I doubt Lector has Imperial Order handy."

"What are you going to do with your Brain Control card, Nesbitt?" Lector asked.

"I'm going to use it on your Satellite Cannon," Nesbitt sneered. "Then I'll attack you directly with it."

Lector stared at him. "But by now it's too powerful to use on a direct attack!"

"Nesbitt, you can't!" Gansley exclaimed.

"I'm going to!" Nesbitt insisted. "And none of you can stop me!"

Seto clenched his teeth. "Unfortunately, he's right."

Mokuba stared at him. "But Seto, without the safeties . . . !"

"I know." Seto gripped the cards in his hand, praying for a miracle. He didn't want Lector to be hurt like this. And if Nesbitt would do that, what else was he capable of now?

Everyone could only helplessly watch as Nesbitt's Brain Control card took effect. The man sneered at Lector with a heartless look. "Satellite Cannon, turn against your master. Attack Lector directly!"

Lector braced himself. It was all he could do. _This isn't Nesbitt,_ he told himself as the beam came down through the clouds, aimed directly at him. _Nesbitt wouldn't do this. He wouldn't . . ._

Then the pain hit and it was all he could think about. The direct attack was brutal. By now the Satellite Cannon had charged enough for several thousand attack points. Lector hadn't even planned to use it again for fear of what damage it could do without the safeties on. But in his mind-controlled state, Nesbitt had no such qualms.

Lector screamed, his eyes filled with pain and shock, as the attack swept over him. When it faded, he immediately collapsed and lay still.

"Lector!" Gansley, Johnson, and Crump screamed in unison.

"No," Mokuba sobbed. "Come on, Lector! You've gotta get up. . . ."

The others stood in silent horror. Even Seto was shaken. Lector wasn't getting up this time. What had Nesbitt done to him? If Nesbitt was far enough gone that he would attack his friend so heartlessly and maybe even fatally, was there any way of reaching him at all? And could he even live with himself if they did? Nesbitt might kill himself out of guilt and horror and grief.

Or maybe Seto was just thinking of what he would feel like doing. It was hard to picture Nesbitt being affected so much that he would . . .

" _LECTOR!"_

Everyone jumped a mile. Nesbitt's eyes had returned to their usual brown, filled with varying emotions. He stood, shaking, clearly overwhelmed by the scene.

Gansley looked to him. "Nesbitt, are you back with us?!"

Nesbitt didn't answer. He was fighting with his Duel Disk, trying to get it off his arm. Finally, remembering there was one other step first, he placed his hand on top of his remaining deck. "I surrender! I surrender already!" he screamed, his voice strangled. The holograms disappeared as the duel officially ended. Finally he figured out how to remove the Duel Disk and he tossed it into the snow before running ahead and collapsing next to Lector. "Wake up! You have to wake up!" He shook the bigger man on the shoulder as he turned him onto his back. When there was no response, Nesbitt struggled to remove Lector's Duel Disk, not wanting to run any risk of it still malfunctioning despite the duel ending.

Gansley reached for Nesbitt's shoulder. "Nesbitt, you have to calm down," he ordered. "We can't help Lector this way!"

"I can't calm down!" Nesbitt shouted in disbelief at the very idea. "I did this! I did this to him!" At last he slid the Duel Disk off of Lector's arm and set it in the snow.

Crump looked like he was at the point of hysteria as well. Only Nesbitt's panic was holding him back from breaking down too. He and Johnson gathered around Lector as well, but with Nesbitt so frantic, they couldn't really get to him.

Serenity blinked back tears, holding both hands to her mouth. "This is horrible," she choked out.

Duke looked away from the scene, glaring into the snow. But he put an arm around her.

"It looks like he's breathing," Johnson said. "He's still alive, Nesbitt. He's going to be alright." Inwardly he prayed that was true . . . even though the thought of him praying after making dozens of court witnesses lie following taking an oath on the Bible seemed laughable at best.

Nesbitt still wasn't convinced. "Lector . . . I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he choked out. "I didn't even know what was happening for a long time. When I finally did, I . . . I couldn't break free. Its hold over me was too strong. It made me say and do things I never wanted to, things I never meant or felt. But you'll probably never believe that. Now I hurt you like this. . . . The shock of what I did snapped me out of it, but . . . is it too late? Is it . . ."

Gansley struggled to kneel in the snow, balancing himself with his cane while reaching for Lector's wrist. The strong throb was a definite relief.

"Please . . . answer me," Nesbitt begged. "Even if you don't want to see me again, just . . . wake up. . . ."

Finally Lector stirred, slowly opening his eyes in awed amazement. "Nesbitt . . . ? You're back. . . ."

"Yeah," Nesbitt said shakily. "I'm back . . . and so are you. Are you alright?!"

Lector groaned. "I . . . think so. . . ." He shakily sat up.

"Oh, thank goodness," Serenity said softly.

Mokuba beamed with relief.

"You'd better be checked out at the KaibaCorp Infirmary," Seto grunted, even as he also relaxed.

"You had us all freaked out," Crump exclaimed.

"My apologies," Lector said, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Can you . . . all of you . . . ever forgive me?" Nesbitt asked. "Not that I deserve it, but . . ."

"Nesbitt," Lector interrupted. "It wasn't your fault about any of this."

Gansley nodded. "You were a victim as well."

"Of course I forgive you," Lector continued.

"We all do," Gansley said, and Johnson and Crump nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," Nesbitt said quietly.

"Let's get you up," Crump said, reaching for Lector. Together, he and Nesbitt managed to get him out of the snow and on his feet. Lector stumbled, but managed to stand while heavily leaning on Crump.

Mokuba ran to Seto and hugged him. "It's all over," he said in relief. "Everyone's okay."

Seto hugged him in turn. "I'm not so sure it is over, Mokuba," he replied. "Yami Marik is still at large." He looked up at the ledge; Yami Marik had vanished, probably in a fit of frustrated fury. "And there's the chance Dr. Portman was working with him. We don't know where she is."

"What a horrible thought," Téa moaned.

"Not to mention we still don't really know what's going on with those threats," Yami Bakura pointed out.

Yugi looked to Nesbitt, who was clearly haunted. "And I don't think this is over for Nesbitt, either," he said quietly. "Even though Lector is going to be alright, it doesn't change what Nesbitt did. I don't think he's going to dismiss it because he was being mind-controlled. I doubt if he'll forgive himself for a long time, if ever."

"That poor man," Serenity said softly. "That would be a horrible thing to live with."

"On the other hand, maybe it'll be good for him to finally have something he regrets doing," Tristan muttered.

Téa bit her lip and looked out into the oncoming twilight. She was sure this wasn't over either, and that meant she couldn't stop worrying for her friends.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Yami Marik was indeed frustrated and aggravated over the duel's outcome. But when he teleported to where Dr. Portman was reviewing the recordings she had made of the entire incident, he discovered that she couldn't be more pleased.

"This is thoroughly fascinating!" she exclaimed. "Your hold over that man was so strong, he eventually tried to attack the oldest one of the group, even though he had been steadfastly trying to avoid it! Actually, it's fascinating that he managed to fight you enough to keep from attacking Mr. Gansley for so long. And that vicious blow he dealt to Mr. Lector . . . !"

Yami Marik finally sneered. "It _was_ enjoyable, watching him fall apart after that. I wasn't expecting him to be able to break my control after he'd had only minimal luck before. I didn't expect him to be that strong."

"And if he truly was the weakest link, imagine the potential mental strength of the others!" Portman exclaimed. "Of course, this experiment is only just beginning. I want to see how he and the others handle what he did. Plus, there's the next stage of the plan to put into effect."

"I can hardly wait," Yami Marik grinned.

Portman smirked. "We do make a good team at that. Although . . . I must admit that you yourself would make a fascinating case study. All you care about is hurting people. Why?"

A wider smirk. "Well, that would be quite a long story. And it would involve my creation."

Portman leaned forward, adjusting her glasses. "You weren't created in a normal manner?!"

"Hardly," Yami Marik said. "You studied Battle City because you were studying Kaiba. You must have seen the drastic and vicious changes to Marik's personality and appearance during the Finals."

"Yes, and that made me want to study him," Portman said. "He seemed to have a split personality. But he doesn't anymore."

"Because the two personalities split into two separate beings," Yami Marik leered. "I became my own person while still inhabiting his body, but now I'm even more my own person than I was before."

Portman rocked back, staring at him in utter amazement. "You truly are an incredible individual!" she gasped.

"I know," Yami Marik said.

"It's like Jekyll and Hyde come to life!" Portman's eyes gleamed. "You will tell me more, won't you?"

"Oh, I'd be perfectly delighted," Yami Marik smirked with a mock bow.

xxxx

Nesbitt was silent on the drive to KaibaCorp. All of the Big Five were being driven there in Seto's limousine, with Seto intending to supervise once they got there. Nesbitt was too upset about what he had done to even focus on the awkward situation of Seto doing anything more for them. He leaned forward, digging his hands into his hair. He had said so many unspeakably cruel things to the only friends he had, the only people who had never turned their backs on him no matter what had happened. Then he had almost killed first Gansley and then Lector. He would never get the image of Lector screaming in pain and collapsing into the snow out of his mind. He had been so still. . . .

"Nesbitt?"

He slowly looked up. Lector was watching him, frowning in concern.

"It's incredible that you can forgive me for this," Nesbitt told him. "I can never forgive myself."

"We could see that you were trying to break free," Lector said. "You couldn't help what that creature did to you."

"He was the one making you say and do all those messed-up things," Crump agreed.

A loud silence fell over the vehicle. The others were wondering what they were afraid to ask: did Nesbitt really feel any of those ways deep down, even if he would never speak of it in his right mind?

"I swear he was," Nesbitt said. "He must have gone through my memories and chosen things to say that could sound plausible based on what I've really said and done." He hesitated. "Although maybe sometimes I've wondered what you think of me, Lector. . . ."

"I don't agree with you on a lot of things," Lector said, "and sometimes your impulsive recklessness frustrates me. But I still think highly of you, Nesbitt. I always have. We've always cared about each other when no one else has. We're family."

The others nodded. "Of course we've had foolish spats," Gansley said. "There isn't a family that hasn't."

"And there will no doubt be more," Johnson said.

"But it's nothing like the arguments my parents were always getting into," Crump said. "I could always tell how much they really hated each other. I've never felt that with us! I've always known we cared through it all."

"But . . . if I'd really killed Gansley . . . or Lector. . . ." A haunted look passed through Nesbitt's eyes.

"Hey, what I said to Lector about dwelling on the What Ifs applies here too," Crump said. "All it does is make a bad situation even worse. We all came out of this okay. I protected Gansley." He hesitated. "And if Lector hadn't been strong enough to survive that blast, well, I think all of us would have felt responsible, since none of us were able to stop that attack."

Gansley and Johnson silently nodded in agreement.

"Of course we're going to be thinking about that to some extent," Gansley said. "We can't not. But we're going to try to focus on the reality that we've pulled through this trial."

Johnson looked to Nesbitt. "Any time you need to talk, just admit it and come to us. We'll help each other through this."

Nesbitt looked down and nodded.

"Or if you need to scream, or cry, we won't judge you," Lector said quietly. "To be honest, I'm relieved that anything got through to you. When you struck me down with Satellite Cannon, I was afraid you were lost to us for good. But I'm sorry you have to suffer through the pain of knowing you hurt me."

Nesbitt trembled. "It . . . it was horrible," he choked out. "It was like my body was on auto-pilot, acting without my permission. But I was watching by that point; I knew what was happening. It felt like I was watching it through a fog over my mind, though. Nothing was really clear. Then you fell and didn't get up. . . . And suddenly everything came into focus. I was hurting . . . maybe even killing . . . one of the only people I care about. . . . One of the only people who cares about me. . . . And it wasn't even the first time. I stood by and laughed when Khu put you in the darkness. This time, I tried to send you into the darkness myself! . . ." He choked back a sob. He would never deliberately fall apart like this in earshot of Seto Kaiba, but Seto had known they would want to talk in private and had affixed the soundproof partition in their part of the limousine. He was not listening.

"And both times, it hurt," Lector said. "But I know you didn't mean for me to be hurt either time. You thought I'd be alright the first time. . . . And the second time, you weren't in control."

"You must be angry," Nesbitt said. "Surely you must want to scream, yell, _something._ "

"I'm not angry at you," Lector said. "Yes, I'd like to give the thing that did this to you a piece of my mind. I don't know if I'll ever get that chance." He hesitated, then drew an arm around Nesbitt's shoulders. The man immediately went stiff, but he didn't pull away. "There's something much different I'd like to say to you. Thank you . . . for being my true friend."

Slowly Nesbitt looked up at him in disbelief. But as he saw that Lector was completely serious, he was overwhelmed.

"After we leave KaibaCorp, I don't think we should go back to Crump's house," Lector went on, "since some of his servants are apparently mixed up in something against us. But we should probably stick together until we know more about their plot. Let's try my house instead."

"We need to get the blueprints and stuff from my place, though," Crump said.

"And how can you even trust me?" Nesbitt said. "It's probably safer for all of you to stay away from me."

"I doubt you'll be controlled again," Gansley said.

"Even if they tried, you'd likely be able to resist it now," Johnson said.

"We're not afraid to be around you," Crump agreed.

"And we trust you," Lector firmly added.

"Thank you," Nesbitt said quietly. It was far more than he ever could have hoped for or imagined.

xxxx

In the other part of the limousine, Seto was silent, sitting with folded arms as he stared into the overcast night. Mokuba, sitting next to him, watched him in concern. "Seto, are you okay?" He looked down. "You should really let the doctors look at you, too. You also got hit with a direct attack. . . ."

"But a much less serious one," Seto grunted. His expression softened as he looked down at his brother. "I'm alright, Mokuba."

"I hope so." Mokuba looked away. "I thought Lector was dead. . . ."

"So did Nesbitt, I'm sure."

"I bet he doesn't regret hurting you," Mokuba said bitterly.

"Probably not," Seto agreed. "But I don't really care. What I want to know is if he really is the one who threw that bomb at you."

"If he was, he was probably being controlled by Yami Marik then too," Mokuba said.

"Even if he was, I doubt he'd care about that," Seto grunted.

"Unless maybe he'd care because now he knows Lector cares about me," Mokuba said. "So maybe he wouldn't want to hurt me because it would upset Lector. Like Lector doesn't want to hurt you because now he's really thinking about how it would hurt me."

"Heh. Maybe."

Mokuba sighed. "If Dr. Portman is involved, I hope those guys regret letting her go when they could have made sure she didn't."

"They probably do. Not that regretting it helps anything."

Mokuba stared at the floor. "I wonder if Hobson's come back. Do you think he's being controlled too?"

"Probably, unless Portman offered him more money. On the other hand, he knows very well that I can make things very difficult for him if he turns against us, so he might be smart enough to turn down any offer she might make."

"I always kind of wondered why you kept him on at all after you took over," Mokuba said. "He always followed Gozaburo's orders, even the really messed-up ones."

"He knew a lot of important information about the business," Seto said. "I thought he might be useful. That, and I didn't want him telling his information to competitors. I could tell he was interested in money. As long as I am always more powerful than anyone else, he won't see a need to seek employment elsewhere. I certainly intend to remain the most powerful person in town, so all in all, it seemed the most logical option to keep him on."

"He always creeped me out," Mokuba said. "I liked Lector more."

"And look what happened," Seto retorted. "Hobson stayed on while Lector turned against us."

"Yeah. . . . Only now we know Lector always cared about at least me, deep down. You just admitted that Hobson's interested in the money, Seto. . . . Do you think he cares at all?"

"I don't know," Seto said honestly. "I never thought Lector did until he proved it." He leaned back. "But regardless, I'm going to have a long talk with Hobson if or when he comes back."

xxxx

Yami Bakura was also very quiet as he drove to Kaiba Manor. He and Bakura had no real reason to go to the KaibaCorp medical center, so they had decided to go looking for Hobson for the time being since there was little more they could do before either locating him or having that conference with Seto.

Bakura sighed and looked out at the sparkling white snow on every lawn and roof. "I was thinking about the past too, Yami," he said softly. "It would have been impossible not to. It was so horrible when Yami Marik used that Shadow Leech on you. . . ."

Yami Bakura growled under his breath. "At least I had more presence of mind than Nesbitt. I was aware enough to fight against calling out the command for the Ring to harm you."

"You've also been around a lot longer than Nesbitt, Yami, and you've had time to start building up your mental strength after discovering how Zorc used you through all those millennia," Bakura said. "I feel very sorry for Nesbitt. . . . He's just trying to turn his life around and that horrible Yami Marik and maybe Dr. Portman force him to attack his loved ones! They have no shame."

"Of course not," Yami Bakura grunted. "Why would they?"

"I suppose it's foolish of me to think they would," Bakura said, sighing. "It's just hard to comprehend how truly evil some people are."

"That demon isn't even a person," Yami Bakura pointed out.

"True," Bakura said. "But Dr. Portman is. And there are others who are and are just as treacherous. I suppose . . . sometimes it's hard to really believe in peace on Earth knowing that such evil is running rampant."

"I highly doubt there will ever be peace on Earth unless the religions are correct about someday there being a time when people will behave differently," Yami Bakura said. "I find it difficult to believe as well, especially after seeing that people haven't truly changed much in centuries." He paused. "But I don't want you to become as cynical as I am. One of your strengths is your ability to see the goodness in dark souls and believe that the world is not as hopeless as it seems."

Bakura smiled a bit. "It's nice that you feel that's a strength and not a weakness, Yami."

"It can be both," Yami Bakura said. "But it certainly helped save me."

That certainly made Bakura happy. But the events of the day, on the other hand, were worrying him immensely.

"I wonder if the threats are part of the same plot that caused Nesbitt to be mind-controlled or if there are two different things going on here," he said.

"If that fool Hobson can be found, maybe we'll find out." Yami Bakura parked back at Kaiba Manor and got out. Bakura hurried after him.

Yugi's and Duke's groups had been right behind them. Now they got out as well.

"Okay," Yugi said. "Kaiba gave us permission to look around the house and the grounds for Hobson. If we find him, we need to question him about the threats and his part in them. Maybe he won't have any better idea than Nesbitt, if he's being controlled too. We'll just have to hope for the best!"

"Yami and I'll check the house," Bakura said.

"I'll help," Téa volunteered.

"Then we'll check the yard," Duke said.

"Man." Joey gawked at the extensive grounds. "I wonder what it's really like livin' in a place like this. It must be pretty awesome!"

"Except for all the people trying to kill you left and right," Duke muttered.

"Is that why you don't have a house, Duke?" Téa wondered. "The security's better at an apartment building like yours?"

Duke started. "Huh? Oh. Nah, that's not really why." He started twirling a piece of hair around his finger as he walked ahead. His other arm was draped around Serenity's waist. "Let's meet back here in thirty minutes."

"How about twenty minutes?!" Joey shot back.

"Thirty is a reasonable amount of time," Atem interjected. "Alright, everyone. Let's be off!"

Yami Bakura was tense as his group headed inside. Velma, who was preparing to vacuum, looked tense as well.

"Is Mr. Kaiba with you?" she asked in concern.

"No," Yami Bakura grunted, "but he gave us permission to come in here and look for his wayward butler."

"Oh. . . ." Velma bit her lip. "If Hobson's come back, I sure haven't seen him."

"We'll look for ourselves." Yami Bakura glanced down at the Infinity Ring. "If Hobson is here, show us to him," he commanded.

The Ring stayed silent.

"The way it acts, who can be sure if he's really not here or if it's just not cooperating?" Téa groaned.

"We can't," Yami Bakura growled. "We'll just have to keep looking."

"I suppose the best place to start would be his room," Bakura said.

"I can definitely take you there," Velma said, glad for the chance to be able to be helpful.

"Good. Then do it," Yami Bakura grunted.

Velma led the group up the back staircase and into the wing where the servants had their quarters. As they approached one closed door, she stepped out ahead and carefully knocked. "Hello?" she called. "Hobson? Are you here?" When there was no response, she slowly opened the door and looked inside. "He's not here."

"Then at least we're going to see if there's anything in here that will shed some light on this madness," Yami Bakura said, storming past her in determination. Téa quickly followed, while Bakura scratched his cheek in a bit of embarrassment as he trailed after his friends.

A search of the room revealed little. It was as mysterious as the man itself. But he was apparently a very philosophical sort; he had a bookshelf mostly filled with very deep and complex tomes, fiction and non-fiction alike.

"This would so go over Joey's head," Téa remarked as she took a book by Kafka down to leaf through. "He didn't even understand one of the guy's short stories that we had to read for school."

"Well," Bakura chuckled, "he wasn't the only one. I must admit, that author's works are . . . odd, to say the very least. I tried watching a film based on one of his stories and I was completely lost."

"It looks like this guy wouldn't be," Téa said. "Who'd have thought?"

A piece of paper dropped from the book to the floor. Téa started, looking down at it. "Oops. . . ."

Yami Bakura bent to pick it up. On a whim, he opened it. "It's directions to a street corner in town," he frowned.

"Maybe the street corner where he gave Lector that threat?" Téa suggested.

"Perhaps," Yami Bakura agreed. "There's a notation on it, something about going at 11." He scowled. "Unfortunately, it could mean just about anything."

"On the other hand, this is very clear about its meaning." Bakura was frowning at another piece of paper.

"Where did you get that?" Yami Bakura demanded in surprise.

"Out of a different book," Bakura said. He showed the others. Over and over, across the entire sheet of paper, was written one very ominous and dark statement.

 _Death to all who have betrayed the Kaiba family._

"What the . . . ?!" Téa stared. "This doesn't sound like something he'd write!"

"We have no proof that he wrote this, unless we can find a sample of his handwriting," Yami Bakura said. "But if he did write it, I wonder if that's part of whatever scheme Portman and that demon have come up with. What if he wrote it, but not voluntarily?"

"Mind-controlled into writing it?!" Téa stared in shock. "That is really freaky!"

"I wonder what kind of effect that would have on him when he was left to himself," Bakura said. "It seems like having to write the same thing over and over would seep into his consciousness, even if he wasn't himself when he wrote it."

"We'll save this and show it to Kaiba," Yami Bakura determined.

Going through the rest of the books didn't turn up anything else strange. But they had already found what seemed to be another bizarre piece of the puzzle.

xxxx

To the Big Five's and Mokuba's relief, Lector was proclaimed alright to leave the medical center after he was examined. "But," the doctor sternly insisted as they prepared to go, "you have to rest!"

"Thank you, Sir," Lector replied. "I intend to do just that."

Mokuba smiled up at him. "I'm really glad you're okay, Lector. But you guys all better be really careful; who knows if Yami Marik might come back! Or that creepy mad scientist Dr. Portman!"

"We'll be careful," Lector promised. "We're not going back to Crump's house to stay right now. We just need to pick up what we were working on and take it elsewhere."

"That's good," Mokuba said.

"I just hope your friends are regretting letting Portman go," Seto remarked.

"It . . . wasn't our wisest moment," Johnson said in chagrin.

"To say the least," Mokuba grumbled.

Marik smiled at Mokuba as they stepped outside into the snow. "We still didn't get to do anything in the snow like we were planning," he said. "After we drop the Big Five off at wherever they're going, why don't we and your brother have some fun?"

Mokuba looked up, beaming. "Well, Seto?"

Seto started. "If nothing's going on back at the house," he said. "The others went there looking for Hobson."

That brought a sigh of resignation from Mokuba. "Oh yeah, that's right."

Marik shot Seto a look. After the long and frightening day, he really felt Mokuba needed some fun and happiness. Of course, Seto did as well. But he was worried wondering what was going to go wrong next, and whether Hobson would try to make trouble if he was around.

"I promise I'll try to find time, Mokuba," Seto amended. "Maybe everything's fine at the house."

"I hope so," Mokuba said quietly. "Too much has gone wrong already. And maybe another time, we wouldn't be so lucky with things working out right in the end. . . ."

That was exactly what Seto feared. And another time, it might not be Lector or another of the Big Five getting hurt—it might be Mokuba.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

To the Big Five's relief, they collected the blueprints and Nesbitt's sketchpad from Crump's house without further difficulty and they took their cars to Lector's house up the street. Lector's maid was gracious to all of them, as she always was, and headed upstairs to prepare their rooms.

Lector was pleased to finally be able to relax after the bizarrely long day. It was only now occurring to him that the only time he been asleep in over 24 hours was when he had instead been unconscious for several moments, and that was hardly a restful experience. Even though the evening was early, this realization suddenly made him ready to collapse. He prepared for bed as quickly as he could.

He wasn't expecting to find Crump waiting for him when he emerged from the master bathroom after a brief shower. The older man was waiting uneasily in the connected bedroom, shifting his position and looking awkward.

"Hey, Lector," he greeted, making no acknowledgment of the fact that Lector was only wearing a towel at the moment. "Are you really okay?"

"You heard what the doctor said," Lector replied. He opened a drawer in the chest of drawers and took out shorts and night clothes.

"Yeah, I know what the doc said." Crump came over closer to him. "But is it really true? And even if you're more or less okay physically, that doesn't mean you're okay emotionally. I know how upset and betrayed you felt after Khu put you in the darkness."

Lector tightly shut the drawer. "I meant everything I told Nesbitt. I can't consider that he was the one attacking me today, because he wasn't. Now if you'll excuse me." He vanished back into the bathroom.

His hands shook as he climbed into his clothes. It was true that he didn't blame Nesbitt or consider him responsible for what had happened. But it was still terrifying whenever he thought about his Satellite Cannon turning against him via Brain Control and striking him down. The person controlling Nesbitt had no doubt done that on purpose, knowing it would likely shake Lector up on multiple levels. As if it wouldn't be bad enough to be attacked by his own, supercharged Duel Monster, it eerily paralleled real-life, where his dear friend had had a form of Brain Control used on him as well.

He slumped back against the sink, covering his eyes with his hands.

"Lector?!"

He jumped a mile. Crump was still there, on the other side of the door. Well, at least he hadn't tried to get through it. He respected Lector's modesty, unless Lector gave him a good reason to plow through the door anyway, like not answering.

"I'm alright," Lector insisted. He drew a shaking breath and pushed away from the sink.

"How the heck long does it take to get into a pair of pajamas?!"

"I'll be out in a minute."

It wasn't a surprise when he came out a couple of minutes later, fully dressed, and found Crump still there. The older man still looked distressed.

"Crump, I swear to you that I'm alright," Lector told him.

"You didn't seem very alright when you stormed back in here," Crump retorted.

"Well, what do you want me to say?!" Lector finally snapped. "That yes, what happened today tore me up inside? That the things that creature made Nesbitt say and do cut me to the core? I know he hurt you and the others too."

"Yeah, he did," Crump agreed. "But he didn't almost kill us." He shifted. "I didn't wanna say this in front of Nesbitt, but . . . I really thought you were dead, Lector," he confessed. "If Nesbitt hadn't flown off the handle, _I_ would have."

Lector's expression softened. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"And you seemed upset that we weren't talking about what happened when Khu . . ." Crump swallowed hard. "When he killed the rest of us. . . ." He cleared his throat and looked away uncomfortably. "So, well . . . if you wanted to talk about this, I just wanted you to know I'm around. . . . That, and I guess maybe I wanted to talk about it a little. . . ."

"I guess you did," Lector said. "But that was thoughtful, Crump."

"Yeah, and well . . . for all my preaching about not dwelling on the What Ifs, I know I'm gonna have nightmares tonight." Crump shuddered. "I thought maybe you would too."

"Probably," Lector said. He sighed. "To be perfectly honest, I have only rarely had a good night's sleep since we got back to our bodies. My mind must be working overtime to process all the things in dreams that it couldn't while we were wandering spirits."

"Sounds like it." Crump hesitated. "Or maybe you've been trying so hard to be strong that you're finally cracking under the strain. Nothing's really gone right for us ever since we tried to help Seto Kaiba take over KaibaCorp. Who can really say which of us has suffered the most, you know? But out of all of us, you're the only one who was really devastated by having betrayed Gozaburo. You couldn't even face it, it hurt you so bad. You had to throw your blame and guilt on Seto because you couldn't deal with it. So that added some extra pressure on you alone. And you had a loving family, something I never knew with my folks, but they disowned you." He shook his head. "I can't imagine how that's hurt you, Buddy."

Lector wearily sank onto the edge of his bed and leaned forward, resting his arms on his lap. "Technically it was just my father who disowned me. Or at least, that's how it started. If none of them even tried to find out about me after we fell into those comas, then they all cared more about pleasing my father than knowing if I was alright. And my father must have stopped caring altogether." He stared at the floor. "I wanted to believe it was all in my head, that he really was just speaking in anger and surely they would want to see me when I was finally awake after over a year in a coma. . . . But he just hung up on me as soon as I identified myself. That's when I knew . . ." His voice cracked. "It wasn't all in my head at all."

"And you never told us about that either, until Johnson asked," Crump said quietly.

"I wanted to try to move on," Lector said. "We got into our messes because we couldn't forget the past. But in the end, some things . . . are just too hard to forget." He looked up sadly at Crump. "We all committed sins, but you kind of think your family will still love you even if they detest what you're doing. At least . . . that's what I thought. I miss them, Crump. . . . My father, my mother . . . my brothers and sisters. . . . Well, maybe not my older sister's children." He scowled. "I always got stuck baby-sitting for them, and I'm telling you, the word 'hellion' was invented for them. They sent every other sitter running from that house in terror. The only one besides me who tried more than once ended up hyperventilating and having to call the paramedics to help her. . . . Of course, they couldn't do anything with those kids either." He sighed. "They're the reason I've never liked children in general."

"You're changing the subject," Crump said.

"I know," Lector grunted. "I had so much trouble with them and later with Noa, when he was still alive. . . . He grew more and more spoiled every day. But Gozaburo loved him, even if Noa never thought so. You don't try to preserve your dead child's brain and spirit in cyberspace if you don't love him. Noa's death . . . it just warped Gozaburo into someone I didn't recognize. He was always ruthless, but there was humanity in him when Noa was around."

"You're not a rambler," Crump said. "You must be leading up to something."

"I think I blamed Seto for what happened to Gozaburo," Lector said. "Another kid I didn't get along with. I didn't just blame Seto for driving Gozaburo to running away in shame; I blamed him for changing the man a lot before that. I thought Seto must have been a difficult child and Gozaburo couldn't take it so soon after losing Noa. Seto says that wasn't true and Gozaburo was abusive. I didn't want to listen. I knew he'd never hurt Noa. But . . . what if Seto was right? Maybe Gozaburo really changed that much. . . . Or maybe I never knew him the way I thought I did . . . just like I never knew my family the way I thought I did."

He laughed ironically. "The only child I ever really liked was Mokuba, and eventually I turned against him when I let my hatred and frustration towards Seto get out of control. I'm still angry at Seto for using us and Mokuba; I probably always will be. But I pushed that child away and drove my family away. . . . I'm good at losing people I care about." He gripped the quilt. "Nesbitt and I don't normally get along. Maybe part of me wonders . . . could that thing have used some real, buried resentment towards me when he took Nesbitt over?"

Crump sat down next to him in concern. "Hey, I've got Nesbitt to talk to me too," he said. "He just doesn't like people in general, Lector. He told me he was surprised he cares about us. Somehow we just got under his skin, even you. He doesn't resent you. And . . . you're not worrying you'll lose all of us, are you?"

"I did, after what happened in the Shadow Realm," Lector said. "I don't really believe it now, and yet . . . I suppose I can't help but worry. I never thought I'd lose my family's love. . . ."

"Gansley was right, you know," Crump said. "We've stuck together through thick and thin when everybody else jumped ship. And that thing you said about family still loving you in spite of whatever garbage you've pulled? I'd say that describes us pretty well. Don't you think?"

Lector pondered on that. "Yes . . . I suppose so."

"Sure. All of us have said and done things that probably could have split up weaker groups. We're strong. Don't you forget it!"

Lector finally smiled a bit. "I've never really talked with any of you like this until yesterday."

"You didn't need to," Crump said. "Or eh, maybe you didn't think you needed to. Maybe we all kind of need it now and then. And I'm tellin' you, if I ever run across your old man, I'll probably greet him by belting him one."

"You wouldn't want to do that," Lector said, even as he was touched by Crump's protectiveness. "He'd get back at you for it."

"That's okay," Crump said. "He should know it's not alright to turn against his son. If he was upset with your life choices, locking you out wouldn't help any! Maybe if you'd had better influences, you wouldn't have sunk down with the rest of us." He hesitated. "Your good influence when you finally wanted a change is what helped the rest of us out. I don't know if we would've decided to turn our lives around too if it wasn't for you."

"You probably would have eventually," Lector said. "Gansley's usually pretty reasonable. I'm sure he would have realized that you were all stuck in a rut, like I did."

"Maybe," Crump said. "But you had something the rest of us didn't: an outside influence for good in the form of Mokuba Kaiba. When we went too far, your protectiveness of the kid kicked in. And even though we were ticked off at you for it, eventually we all had to be grateful for it."

Lector slowly nodded. "I'm glad I could help."

"Are you feeling any better?" Crump asked.

"Some," Lector said. "Maybe I'll try and get some sleep."

"Yeah, you should. And if any more nightmares happen tonight, come and check on me. I'll probably either be awake or glad to get woke up."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lector said in a bit of amusement. He paused. "Thank you."

"Hey, don't mention it." Crump looked awkward again. "Thank _you_. . . for, you know . . . not dying. We don't wanna be the Big Four." He patted Lector on the arm and headed for the door.

Lector stared after him. Crump really was a loyal friend. They all were. It had been understandable to doubt them after the disaster with Khu in the Shadow Realm, but even so, he felt badly now that he had.

He slowly climbed into bed and turned out the light. Maybe now, after having really opened up to the others over the last 24 hours, he actually would sleep better—in spite of the disaster with Nesbitt.

He hoped Nesbitt would be able to get some decent sleep as well.

xxxx

Nesbitt was very wide awake despite also having not had any sleep in over 24 hours. He paced his room, restless, before finally giving up and going into the hall. Gansley was already there, leaning on his cane as he stared into the distance from the upstairs railing.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" Nesbitt spoke, feeling awkward. He was the reason for everyone's sleeplessness, naturally. . . .

Gansley turned to face him. "I haven't even tried yet. I slept later today because of what happened last night, so I'm not particularly tired at the moment."

Nesbitt was sure that was only partially true. "You're . . . really not afraid to be around me? After what I did to Lector, and tried to do to you . . . hasn't it occurred to you that maybe I'm the one who hit you last night?!"

Gansley gripped his cane a little bit tighter. "It's occurred to me," he agreed. "But you've conquered whatever invaded your mind. No, Nesbitt, I'm not afraid to be around you."

Nesbitt looked away, clenching his fists. " _I'm_ afraid to be around me," he said bitterly. "It took almost murdering Lector to snap me out of it!"

"And that's why you won't let it happen again," Gansley insisted. "Now that you're aware of having been mind-controlled, they have no further hold over you."

Nesbitt spun back around. "How can all of you just dismiss it like that?!" he cried. "We all turned against Lector just because he'd been shielding Mokuba Kaiba from us, but you want me around after I showed I'm capable of killing you?!"

"It's not like that." Now an edge had entered Gansley's voice. "We learned from what happened with Lector. We realized we were wrong to abandon him. And he came to trust all of us again despite what happened. We wouldn't turn against you, especially when you weren't responsible for your actions! You are _not_ capable of killing us, Nesbitt! Why else would what happened have shocked you back to yourself?"

Nesbitt was stunned into silence. "I . . ." He shook his head. "It still overwhelms me, that you all care about me this much. I haven't absolved myself of responsibility yet."

"It will take time," Gansley conceded. He hesitated, but finally added, "I still feel guilt over what I said and did when Khu tried to assimilate Lector into the darkness. I don't know when I will forgive myself for that."

Nesbitt stared at Gansley in surprise. "I had no idea."

"I haven't admitted it aloud until now," Gansley said. "How would you have any idea?"

"Fair enough." Nesbitt looked away. "I thought I'd locked myself away in my own world, with my machines and my technology. I didn't think I cared about anyone else. . . . That I _could_ care. How did this even happen?"

Gansley chuckled. "I ask myself the same question. I believe Johnson does as well. I doubt any of us know the answer. And in the end, does it matter?"

"I guess not." Nesbitt turned back. "When I thought I'd killed Lector, I didn't know how I would keep living either. Is it normal to feel so illogical?"

"It's human," Gansley said. "Strange to think about, though. . . . I've lived for years caring only about business and not people, and yet the four of you have become so important to me."

Nesbitt sighed, staring at the floor. "I had enough presence of mind not to attack you directly, at least for a while. Then I lost control of myself and almost did. I would have, if not for Crump. I am . . . so sorry. . . ." He scowled. "People say that, and yet what does it mean? How does it matter? It hardly begins to make up for whatever damage was done."

"I suppose in some way it does," Gansley mused. "It can help to know the person feels badly for what happened."

"Maybe." Hearing a voice up the hall, Nesbitt looked towards the sound with a frown. When the person came close enough that he and Gansley could hear the words, they were both stunned.

"Yes, they're all here now," Lector's cook was saying. "Something happened to Mr. Lector. . . . I don't entirely understand what, but apparently it's Mr. Nesbitt's fault."

Nesbitt flinched and clenched his fists. Gansley frowned.

"You want me to do what?!" the cook exclaimed. "I know we want to get rid of them, but that way?!"

Nesbitt went stiff. "What is she talking about?!" he hissed. "And who is she talking to?!"

"We're certainly going to find out," Gansley insisted. "Just wait a moment."

". . . No, I haven't fixed anything for them yet. Mr. Lector went to bed early. I don't know if the others are going to."

"She's going to poison us!" Nesbitt snarled.

Gansley waved a hand at him to be quiet. They had to be sure.

"Alright, if you're sure it can't be traced. . . . I'll test it on just one of them first."

Now Gansley had heard enough. He stormed forward, Nesbitt going out ahead of him. To their surprise, Johnson emerged from around another corner. "So, what, exactly, are you going to test on one of us?" he asked.

The woman jumped a horrified mile and immediately ended her telephone conversation. "I wasn't even talking about any of you!" she gasped.

"Do you honestly expect us to believe that?" Nesbitt grabbed her before she could run and tried to wrench her phone out of her hand.

Gansley just leaned on his cane and watched. "Clearly, we haven't left the danger behind at all. I wonder . . ."

"What?!" Nesbitt hissed.

"What if some or all of our servants are mixed up in a plot against us?" Gansley suggested. The cook's eyes widened. "I heard Crump's maid complaining that we've come back so she doesn't have full run of the house anymore. What if they all feel similarly? They must have all enjoyed living in our homes as more than servants while we were gone." He looked at the cook, who was ashen now. "Am I right?"

"I'm not talking without a lawyer," the cook weakly answered.

"Oh, I'm a lawyer," Johnson sneered. "Of course, not yours. But you'd be well-advised to tell us what we want to know. I'm sure you're aware of Nesbitt's violent tendencies. He's had a very rough day and could easily snap if something else goes wrong."

The cook trembled as Nesbitt's arm tightened against her throat. "You won't stop it," she insisted. "It just started as a few of us idly talking and wishing you hadn't come back, it's true. We weren't planning on actually doing anything about it."

"So how did it become that?" Gansley asked.

"One of us—and I'm not saying who!—suddenly suggested trying to get rid of you. We weren't going to go along with it going that far, but . . . well, that person didn't want us to tell on them, so they said if we didn't go along with them, they would kill all of you, then call the police and pin the blame on all of us. I swear!" Tears came to the cook's eyes. "I wasn't really going to poison any of you. I was just going along with it on the phone. I was just going to slip you some sedatives in your soup."

"And how did you expect to get away with that if you were expected to kill us?" Johnson retorted.

"Oh . . . I would have thought of something. . . ." A weak shrug.

Johnson took that moment to grab the phone from her. "All we have to do is look at the name and number of the person you were talking to and we'll know who wants us dead."

"That won't work," she told him. "They were calling from a payphone."

"People still use those?" Nesbitt snorted.

"It was part of the set-up," was the insistent reply. "They didn't want to be able to be traced in case anyone ever saw our phones' records."

"Great," Nesbitt snarled.

"Hmm." Still calm and collected, Gansley met eyes with the cook. "Do you mean to tell us that you're just going to let yourself go down without even telling us this person's name?"

"You can't arrest me," the cook haughtily told him. "Not for something I said on the phone."

"No, but Lector can certainly fire you," Gansley replied. "And then you may be in danger from your co-conspirator. They may fear that you'll talk and so they'll silence you first."

She looked around nervously. "I'll take my chances."

Gansley sighed. "Her mind is made up. There's nothing more we can do with her."

Snarling, Nesbitt shoved her as he released her from his grasp. She turned, fleeing down the stairs.

"Well, now what?!" Nesbitt exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"We'll have to tell Crump and Lector," Gansley said. "I hate to wake Lector right now, but he needs to know. And . . . as distasteful as it is, I suppose we'll have to call Seto Kaiba, just in case this ties in with what his butler's doing."

Johnson chuckled under his breath, adjusting his glasses.

"You think this is funny?!" Nesbitt cried in disbelief. "I fail to find anything funny about this situation whatsoever!"

"Just think about it for a moment," Johnson replied. "Our servants are plotting against us and want to overthrow us. They want to be the masters of the house. Doesn't it seem rather like poetic justice, after we plotted to overthrow Gozaburo and later Seto Kaiba?" He leaned back with a smirk. "All of our real problems started with those plans. Now, we have to unravel such a mess ourselves, and try to stay alive while we're doing it."

"At least we weren't trying to kill anyone when we tried to take over the company," Nesbitt growled.

"Not then, but eventually we became so desperate and filled with hatred and vengeance that we tried that too, when we took over Kaiba's augmented reality game," Johnson said. "Except for Lector, who tried to stop us at every turn."

"Alright," Gansley conceded. "Yes, I see your point, Johnson. But poetic justice or not, we need to survive this. Come on; let's go tell the others."

Johnson sobered. He didn't look forward to that.

xxxx

Duke was tense as he and Serenity wandered through the extensive front yard of the Kaiba Manor. Lights along the wall and the side of the house guided their way, but he was still highly alert for anyone who might jump out of the shadows at them.

"It's spooky here," Serenity said, voicing Duke's thoughts.

"As long as we're alone, it's fine," Duke said. "Only it almost seems too quiet. Where's the security guards? Not to mention Yugi and the others."

"There's Mai over there," Serenity pointed. "It looks like she might have found something."

They hurried over. "What's going on?" Duke asked.

Mai frowned, holding up a red belt by the buckle. "I have no idea. I just found this dropped here in the snow."

"Okay, now that's just weird," Duke frowned. "That looks like one of Alister's belts."

"That's right!" Serenity exclaimed. "I forgot that someone was trying to blame Alister for that bomb in the morning!"

"Unless he really did do it," Duke retorted. "Don't forget, he could have been controlled, like Nesbitt and maybe Kaiba's butler."

Terror passed through Mai's eyes. It was hard for her to picture something as frightening as being made to do something horrible without even remembering it later.

"So maybe he's here somewhere and lost this?" Serenity blinked.

"Maybe," Duke said. "I think he usually wears two and one's just there for aesthetic reasons."

Mai looked up at the house. "And he climbed in through that window?" She reached over and pushed it up. "It's open!"

Serenity hurried over and looked inside. "Hello?" she called.

"Watch it, Serenity," Duke exclaimed. He pulled her away from the window just in case something unfriendly came flying out at her. When nothing did, he slowly moved forward again and shined his Smartphone into the darkened room.

"Do you see anything?" Serenity asked.

"No," Duke frowned, "but that doesn't exactly instill me with confidence." He started to climb inside. "I'd better see if anyone's in here."

"I'm coming with you," Serenity insisted. Before Duke could protest, she was climbing in as well.

Mai sighed. "Oh well, what the heck." She followed them in.

"Maybe if we could find a lightswitch," Duke muttered.

Without warning the lights clicked on overhead. Alister was standing over by the lightswitch, silently watching them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Everyone jumped a mile at the sudden appearance of one of the suspects in the case.

"Um . . . hi, Alister," Duke finally, tentatively spoke. "Are you . . . you know, yourself?"

Alister grimaced, holding a hand to his head. "I don't even know what I'm doing here. I just heard you talking and I turned on the light."

The group started to relax. He seemed normal.

"Do you know you're in Kaiba's house?" Mai asked.

"What?!" Alister stared at her.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Duke demanded.

Alister slumped back against the wall. "I had to cancel a chartered flight because of the snowstorm. I made the phone call and then I got up . . . and suddenly I was here. Oh. . . ." He reached in his pocket and took out his phone. "Raph and Valon are probably climbing the walls."

Duke frowned, watching as Alister quickly dialed a number and turned away to talk. "Okay, this is just weird," he said to the girls. "It sure sounds like he was controlled or brainwashed into ending up here, alright. But what snapped him out of it? I can't believe he was supposed to come all this way and then not do something while he was here."

"Maybe . . . turning on the light did it?" Serenity suggested.

"But why would he even turn on the light if he was being controlled?" Mai said. "I think he was already out of the control when Duke talked about turning the lights on."

"Obviously there's still a lot more we don't get about this," Duke said. "And I'm wondering if it's safe to be around Alister. What if it's like hypnosis and there's a post-hypnotic suggestion that can make him flip back to being under these people's control at any time? He could suddenly turn on us without warning."

"That's an awful thought," Serenity said, her eyes wide. ". . . But I guess it could be true. . . ."

"We'll just have to stay on our guard," Mai said. "We can't very well leave him alone right now."

"I know," Duke said in frustration.

Alister pulled back from the phone, staring at it in frustrated disbelief. "I can't get an answer from either Raphael or Valon!" he exclaimed. "If they're out looking for me, they'd take their phones with them!" He headed for the door. "I'm going back home right now."

"How did you even get here?" Duke wondered. "You couldn't have brought your motorcycle."

Alister frowned, considering that. Then he ran into the hall and to the front door, flinging it open wide. The others hurried to catch up with him as he ran down the steps, over the driveway, and to the front gate. All was deserted. The only cars were the ones brought by Solomon, Yami Bakura, and Duke.

"Maybe you took a cab?" Mai suggested. "But it's gone now."

"We'll take you home," Duke decided. He really wanted to make sure Alister got there for sure.

"Thanks," Alister said slowly. "But were you done here?"

"We're all trying to solve the mystery," Duke said. "Right now, I think getting you home is a big part of that."

"Oh. . . ." Serenity bit her lip. "I should really let Joey know before we go off somewhere. . . ."

"Let Joey know what, Sis?"

Everyone jumped. Joey was coming over from around the side of the house, followed by Yugi, Atem, Solomon, and Tristan.

"We've got a new twist in this case," Duke explained.

The arriving group listened to the tale, with Joey in particular displeased. "How about me and Tristan go with you and Alister, Duke?" Joey suggested. "Serenity and Mai can stay here and keep looking for clues."

"Ugh." Mai rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Joey, I don't think we're going to find much of anything out here. I for one would like to know what Raphael and Valon have to say about all this."

"So would I," Solomon said. "So why don't we all go? Téa's group can stay here and wait for Kaiba to show up. We don't all need to do that."

"Coming to think about it . . ." Yugi's eyes filled with concern. "Haven't they been gone an awfully long time? It seems like they should have been here by now."

"We'd better call them," Atem agreed.

But neither Seto, Mokuba, nor Marik were answering their phones. The group stared at their phones, bewildered.

"Okay, something is really rotten here," Joey said. "This doesn't make any sense! Why aren't they answering?! We're getting signals!"

"It could just be that freak show not letting any of our calls go through," Mai said.

Suddenly Joey froze. There had been so much going on that he hadn't stopped to think about it, but Yami Marik's appearance that afternoon had been the first time Mai had seen him since he had emotionally destroyed her. He hadn't appeared to notice her or he likely would have taunted her, but surely she had noticed him.

"Hey, Mai, are you okay?" he asked. "I mean, from seeing him again and all. . . ."

Mai sighed and looked away. "I don't have time to not be okay, Joey," she said quietly. "There's more important things to worry about right now."

"You're important too!" Joey insisted. "I know that couldn't have been easy for you."

". . . I watched him try to emotionally destroy someone again," Mai finally admitted. "I've never liked the Big Five, but . . . my heart really goes out to Nesbitt tonight. Lector too." She gave a weak laugh. "When I saw Yami Marik today, I just froze. I couldn't say anything, do anything, even though I wanted to. I didn't want him to see me. And . . . he didn't. I didn't really think I'd be able to fake feeling okay after that. But, weirdly enough, I guess I have. . . ."

"Oh, Mai," Serenity said softly. "I'm so sorry. . . ."

"Yeah," Joey said in chagrin. "Me too. I should have thought about it before now. Everything's been so crazy, but that's no excuse."

"Sure it is!" Mai turned back to face them. "Okay, you're right that we need to deal with my problems too. There's no way I'm letting them build up again like they did after Battle City. But there are more serious problems at stake right now. Mine can wait until this is taken care of. We need to know what's going on back at Alister's house, and now we also need to know what's happening with Kaiba! That nutcase and whoever's working with him are trying to wreak havoc on everyone tonight!" Her eyes narrowed. "And we have to stop them. I don't want anyone else to end up like I did."

Atem smiled at her. "And we won't," he vowed. "Alright, everyone, let's call Téa and then go. Some of us will take Alister home and some of us will try to find Kaiba's group."

Yugi was in agreement with that. To his relief, his call to Téa went through. She and the Bakuras were still looking through the house, and she relayed to Yugi about the strange papers they had found in Hobson's room.

"No Hobson himself, though," she sighed.

Yugi sighed too. "Well, maybe hopefully soon," he said. "Meanwhile, Téa, some other strange things have been happening. . . ."

She listened while Yugi described the events of the last half-hour, gasping at parts.

"Oh no! That's really weird that all those people aren't answering their phones," she exclaimed at the conclusion. "Yeah, you guys go on and see what's happening. We'll wait for Kaiba here."

"Okay! See you, Téa." And Yugi quickly disconnected the call.

Téa slumped back against the wall, worry filling her eyes. What could be wrong? Were more people hurt? Mokuba? Marik? Raphael? Valon? . . . Seto?

Her insides twisted.

xxxx

Alister's house was in darkness when Duke pulled up in front. Shaken now, Alister fumbled with the door handle. "The lights were on when I made the phone call about the flight," he exclaimed. Finally getting the door open, he ran up the steps to the porch and unlocked the door, all in one movement.

Valon was laying on the couch when he opened the door, a half-read manga open on his chest. Raphael's cat Liu was also on his chest.

Alister stopped, shaking his head in amusement and disbelief. They certainly looked cozy. And judging from Valon's rising and falling chest and slight snoring, he was just fine. It sounded like Liu was motorboat-purring, too.

"Everything okay?" Duke asked as he came up from behind.

"I think so," Alister said. "Only . . . where's Raphael?" He walked farther into the room.

A sound from the basement stairs brought everyone's attention up. Raphael was climbing up the stairs, seeming perfectly fine. When he saw Alister, however, he stopped and stared. "Alister, what are you doing home?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing home?!" Alister burst out.

"You had that chartered flight," Raphael said. "You should be in the air by now!"

"I canceled that!" Alister cried. "It wasn't safe to take the plane up! There's more snow forecast!"

Raphael frowned, folding his arms. "That's what I said, but you insisted on going."

Duke frowned too. "We found him in Kaiba's house. He remembered canceling the flight and then suddenly he was in Kaiba's drawing room or sitting room or something."

"And he tried calling you guys, but you didn't answer," Serenity spoke up.

Raphael took out his phone and stared at it. "There's no record of a call. . . ."

Alister slumped against the wall. "What is going on around here?!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"I don't know, but we really need to find out," Duke scowled.

xxxx

The Kaibas and Marik, meanwhile, had been fully on their way back to Kaiba Manor after dropping the Big Five off at Crump's house. None of them had expected any sort of delay whatsoever. But when Marik suddenly pulled over to apparently take an incoming phone call, Mokuba worriedly looked over at him from the limousine.

"I wonder what's wrong, Seto," he said in concern. "Marik looks upset."

Seto frowned. "Something else going wrong is all we need right now." He looked to the chauffeur. "Pull over."

"Of course, Mr. Kaiba." The chauffeur drove over to the curb and parked in front of the Ishtar van.

After a moment, Marik hung up and got out of the van. He looked shaken as he started walking to the limousine.

Mokuba opened the door and leaped out before Marik got very far. "What is it, Marik?! What's happening?!"

"That was Rishid," Marik said. He sounded and looked very strange. "He said someone delivered a manilla envelope to the museum. When he opened it, he found a sheet of paper that said, 'You and your brother will die for your acts against the Kaiba family.'"

" _What?!"_ Mokuba shrieked.

Seto, who had also exited the limo by now, stood with narrowed eyes. "I suppose it's logical that the two of you would be included in this nonsense. You did kidnap Mokuba and force me to duel for his safe return during Battle City."

Mokuba bit his lip. He didn't like to think about those dark times. "But that's all over now!" he protested. "Marik's my best friend! I don't want anything to happen to him or to Rishid!"

"I'd really like to go to Rishid, but I don't want to leave you two in this mess," Marik said haltingly.

"Let's go get both of your siblings and bring them back with us," Seto grunted. "They might be safer with us."

Marik looked to Seto in relief. "Thank you." He smiled at Mokuba and hurried back to the van.

Soon, both vehicles were heading back through the fancy neighborhoods towards downtown Domino City. Seto was deep in thought, frowning into the distance.

"What is it, Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"It just occurred to me that it seems more than a little strange that even though our former enemies are being targeted with threats, Alister hasn't been included in that," Seto said. "Instead of receiving a threat, he is arguably being used as an instrument of destruction. But if he did plant that bomb in Lector's mailbox, why did he throw it at you if he's supposed to be avenging past crimes against us?" He frowned more. "And the note Lector received said nothing about betrayals to the Kaibas; it seemed to be written by someone against war, as Alister is."

"I don't get any of this," Mokuba said. "It really does seem like maybe we're caught between two different plots, Seto. Maybe more!"

"Yes, but what and why?" Seto gripped his arms. "I hate being so in the dark. There's a puzzle piece we're missing somewhere, and by the time we figure it out, it may be too late to stop someone from being seriously hurt." He took out his phone. "You'd think Yugi or someone would have called if Hobson's been found. But if he hasn't been found, where is he?! Did he deliver the note to the museum?"

"If he did, I guess it's too much to hope for that he'd still be there when we get there," Mokuba said.

"Probably," Seto agreed.

Indeed, when they arrived at the museum, all they found were two very upset Ishtar siblings waiting at the door.

"Marik!" Ishizu exclaimed in relief when the boy exited the van. She hastened outside to meet him, followed by Rishid.

"You didn't have any trouble on the way?" Rishid asked in concern.

"None," Marik said. "But we could be attacked at any time." His eyes narrowed. "The Big Five and Yami Bakura were also threatened, but Yami Bakura hasn't been attacked yet. Whoever's doing this seems to be focusing their energy on the Big Five first and foremost."

"I wonder why," Ishizu frowned as they walked down the steps towards the vehicles.

"Well, we know Yami Marik's involved," Mokuba said bitterly. "And he did something to Nesbitt like he did to Yami Bakura, controlling him and I guess trying to make everyone turn against him or something. And wanting Nesbitt to hurt his friends. . . . Maybe he's targeting the Big Five because they're so new at trying to get their lives in order and he wants to try to mess it up."

"That's probably part of it," Marik agreed in disgust.

"We're missing some important clues," Seto said. "He may have only decided to come onboard once he saw the threats. There could be two separate plots taking place."

Ishizu and Rishid climbed into the van. "It's very disturbing in any case," Ishizu said.

"It's even more disturbing that my butler seems to be right in the middle of it," Seto growled. "And now he's nowhere to be found."

"Did anyone see who brought the envelope?" Marik asked.

"No," Rishid sighed. "The museum was very busy today in spite of the snow and there were people going back and forth up the hall all day long. Ishizu only found the envelope on her desk right before she called you, Marik."

"I wonder if we should be involving the police," Marik frowned.

"I would rather not," Ishizu said. "It could be very bad for you and Rishid, considering what the message said."

Seto grunted. "I could tell them it was a private matter, long ago resolved. But there's probably no fingerprints on the paper anyway, and if there were, they've probably been destroyed by now with your fingerprints."

"Likely true," Ishizu said.

"Let's just go back to the house and see if Hobson's been found yet," Seto said.

Ishizu and Rishid were agreeable, so the vehicles started back the other direction.

"I wonder if we should stop by and see if anything more's happened with the Big Five," Mokuba said in concern.

Seto grunted. "You'd think their enemies would have decided they'd been tortured enough for one day." He fell silent for a long moment, but finally said, "With their luck, we should probably check anyway."

"I think they were going to Lector's place after they got the stuff from Crump's," Mokuba said.

A sigh. "Alright." Looking to the chauffeur, Seto said, "Go to Lector's house first."

"Yes, Sir," the chauffeur dutifully answered.

xxxx

Johnson felt shaken as he, Gansley, and Nesbitt delivered the news of the servants' plot to Lector and Crump. From their friends' expressions, they were shaken too. Crump especially was not good at hiding his feelings and quickly started having a panic attack.

"What the heck?! What are we gonna do?!" he yelped.

"Calm down, Crump," Gansley said sternly. "We'll figure something out."

"But it's probably not safe at any of our places!" Crump wailed.

"It does look like that's probably true," Lector finally spoke.

"The servants don't have keys to our rooms," Nesbitt said. "Or at least, mine don't have keys to mine."

"Unless they made some up on the sly," Crump retorted.

"Relocating to Nesbitt's house may be our safest option," Gansley said.

Johnson stayed silent. He wasn't sure what the best course of action was.

"Aren't you even upset about this?!" Crump suddenly asked him.

"Getting upset won't help anything," Johnson replied. Unlike Crump, he was usually very good at hiding his feelings. He had always been so smooth and cool-headed in court, no matter what lies he had been perpetrating. And when he did get visibly distressed, he was liable to blurt anything, whether he believed it or not, if he thought it would help.

Unbidden to his mind came the memory of calling both Gansley and Crump "useless" while pleading the Big Five's case before Noa. He had been so afraid that Noa was going to kill them all right there, as the boy had threatened to do, and he had desperately said the first thing that had popped into his mind to try to pacify the brat who had held their lives in his hands. He hadn't thought anything of it then, but now, looking at those two, he felt a rush of guilt.

They couldn't have known he had said that or they surely would have angrily confronted him about it. They wouldn't have appreciated such a comment, even considering Johnson's motivation behind it. And they would have had every right to be upset. They had lost their duels, and Johnson had felt that he would do better, but . . . useless? Had he ever really thought that about them? Gansley was their leader, really, and Crump . . . well, he _was_ good with numbers, even though his penguin tangents could be tiresome and he really was far too intrigued by the sight of a pretty girl.

Everyone seemed to think that Nesbitt was the most isolated of the group, including Nesbitt himself. But Nesbitt cared deeply, as today had certainly shown them all. Johnson, with all the webs of lies he had woven through the years, was a far harder person to reach in some ways than the introverted Nesbitt was. Did he even know what the truth was anymore?

Well . . . on some things he did. He had willingly sacrificed himself for Lector, just as the others had. He cared deeply too.

 _Not useless. . . . My dear friends, whom I could lose at any time. . . ._

He could have lost Gansley both last night and today. A knock on the head could always be serious; Gansley was just lucky it hadn't been, in his case. And that Yami Marik character had tried to make Nesbitt attack Gansley during the duel.

Lector certainly could have died when he had been attacked. The memory of him lying in the snow with Nesbitt emotionally falling apart over his lifeless body was going to stay with Johnson for a long time.

They were all in danger. Who was next to be harmed?

"Johnson?!"

Johnson started. Gansley was looking to him with a reproachful frown. "Oh . . . er, what is it?"

"What's your opinion on what we should do?" Gansley demanded.

"We _could_ go to Nesbitt's," Johnson said slowly, "but there's no guarantee we'd be safe there. We could try a hotel, but that wouldn't help us get to the bottom of this mystery."

"We don't want to get to the bottom of it by ending up six feet under!" Crump yelped.

"So eloquently put, Crump," Johnson deadpanned.

"He's got a point, though," Lector said. "Staying right in the middle of the chaos is just asking for trouble. I doubt they're going to stop their plans just because three of you caught my cook scheming with someone. They'll just change their tactics and come at us from another angle."

"And you really need to rest tonight," Gansley said. "Going to a hotel might be our best option."

"Except for the possibility that maybe my cook won't spread the word about you catching her," Lector said. "If she doesn't and we up and leave, it could look suspicious and cause more trouble. They might suspect we know something. Maybe they'll fade into the woodwork and we won't catch them at all, and then suddenly, one by one we'll start being killed off when we least expect it."

"So what are we gonna do?!" Crump exclaimed.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang. Surprised, Johnson went to the doorway and looked out towards the stairs. "I think it's Seto Kaiba," he said after a moment of listening.

"Hmm." Gansley looked to the others. "We never did have that meeting with him. We could make the excuse we're going to do that, have the meeting, and then slip away to a hotel for the night. We can always say the meeting lasted all night, if questioned later."

"I guess that might be our best option," Crump said slowly.

Lector and Johnson agreed. Nesbitt scowled, but finally, reluctantly nodded as well. "We can try it."

Johnson walked out to the edge of the stairs. "Mr. Kaiba, come upstairs, if you please," he requested.

Seto looked up at him and suddenly stiffened. "Look out!"

"What?" Johnson looked over his shoulder and leaped out of the way just as a metal cart came barreling down the corridor directly at him. With him out of the way, it clattered down the stairs to the bottom. Johnson stared after it, sheet-white.

"What on Earth is going on out here?!" Gansley exclaimed. He and the others were now gathered in the doorway of Lector's room.

Johnson drew a shaking breath and tried to adjust his lopsided glasses. "I . . . I was almost the next 'accident' victim," he gasped.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes: Scott Irvine is the guy with long hair and a beard who appeared at times during Battle City. He's only named in the game** _ **The Falsebound Kingdom**_ **, in which he is the antagonist.**

 **Chapter Ten**

Johnson was still badly shaken as he and the rest of the Big Five departed with Seto several minutes later. Although they had looked high and low, they had not found anyone in the area who could have pushed the metal cart at him, and so they had to leave that part of the mystery unsolved . . . just like every other part.

"That could've been an accident . . . only we know it wasn't," Crump said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"This whole thing is really sick," Mokuba said. "And now you're the only one who hasn't been hurt in some way, Crump. You're probably next."

Crump paled. "None of us are going back to our homes until this is cleared up!" he insisted.

"The only problem with that is, it likely won't get cleared up unless we do go back," Johnson pointed out.

Seto nodded. "You'd have to be the bait and we'd try to catch them in the act." He eyed Crump, who looked terrified.

"There's no way to catch these nuts!" he burst out. "You'd probably get me bumped off in an instant! Johnson would've got run over and knocked down the stairs by that cart if . . ."

"If Seto hadn't warned him," Mokuba pointed out in irritation. "Seto wouldn't let you get killed!"

"Not on purpose," Crump amended. "But I mean, we don't know who pushed that thing. They'd probably have some creepy-clever way to eighty-six me before you could do a thing about it!"

"Crump has a point," Gansley said. "I'm not in favor of deliberately setting him up as a target."

Seto grunted. "Maybe a decoy then. I want to catch these people almost as much as you do, if not more. They've endangered Mokuba and they're making it very difficult for me to get any work done. They're also causing my butler to behave very strangely, and if he doesn't have a good explanation for his behavior, he's fired."

"Just who could you get as a decoy, Mr. Kaiba?" Lector asked.

"One of my security guards, maybe," Seto said.

"Can we trust them?" Crump gulped. "I mean, if your butler has flipped his lid, maybe the problem doesn't stop there!"

Seto growled. "It had better."

Mokuba bit his lip. He hated to admit it, but Crump had a good point. The idea that they couldn't trust any of the staff, however, was absolutely terrifying.

"It does seem like maybe at least one person is on some kind of avenging angel quest here," Lector said. "The messages people have been receiving are very strange. Can you think of anyone who might want to kill all of your enemies, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Not particularly," Seto retorted. "Most people want to join the ranks of my enemies, not stop them."

"Maybe it's someone at the company," Mokuba suggested.

"I can't think who," Seto said. "But if we still can't find Hobson, maybe I'll have to look into the idea."

At last they pulled up in front of Kaiba Manor and drove through the gates. To their surprise, Téa, Bakura, and Yami Bakura came running over to the limousine and the Ishtar van as soon as they stopped.

"Kaiba!" Téa exclaimed. "What's going on?! Why didn't you or Mokuba or Marik answer any of our calls?!"

Seto opened the door, regarding her in disbelief. "What calls?"

"No one's phones registered incoming calls?" Bakura blinked in disbelief.

The Kaibas took out their phones, as did Marik. "No," Marik frowned. "And yet I picked up Ishizu's call. . . ."

"Oh great," Téa groaned. "Something else that isn't making sense!" Then, really processing what Marik had said, she blinked and looked to Marik's siblings. "Hi, Ishizu, Rishid. . . . What's up?"

"Marik and I received a threatening message," Rishid said grimly.

Ishizu nodded. "Someone left it on my desk at the museum."

"Oh my," Bakura gasped. "What are they threatening you about?"

"Apparently about what we did to Kaiba and Mokuba during Battle City," Marik said.

"Oh no," Téa moaned.

Yami Bakura watched as the Big Five emerged from the limousine. "What are all of you doing here?"

"We're here for that meeting," Johnson said. "Someone tried to kill me back at the house."

"Yeah, and they found out a lot of their servants are trying to get them out of the way so the servants can be the masters of the house again!" Mokuba blurted.

"Really." Yami Bakura looked darkly amused.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's hilarious." Crump rolled his eyes. "But the danger's real!"

Seto looked around. "So, where's everyone else?"

Téa sighed. "Well, Yugi's group was supposed to be looking for you guys, actually. And Duke's group was taking Alister home. . . . He showed up in the house and had no idea how he got there!"

"Alister again?" Seto narrowed his eyes. "What room was he in?"

"Um . . . I'm not sure," Téa admitted. "I think it was on the first floor, maybe at the back of the house?"

"If I can find the right room, maybe I can figure out what someone wanted Alister to do in there," Seto said. "Or what Alister wanted."

"Seto?!" Mokuba stared at him. "You're not really thinking Alister went in there on his own?!"

"I don't know, Mokuba," Seto frowned. "He's probably being controlled, it's true. But in a world where people you trust can betray you, it would be better to stay on guard, even around him. Let's not forget the way we met."

"Yeah, I know, but I really believed Alister when he said he was trying to get past the hateful feelings he had for KaibaCorp!" Mokuba pleaded. "In his right mind, I know he wouldn't hurt me, and I'm sure he could only be a part of this if someone is controlling him!"

"Let's hope you're right, little brother," Seto said.

Duke's convertible pulled into the driveway just then. "Hey," Duke greeted. "So Kaiba made it back, huh?"

"And I need you to show me what room you found Alister in," Seto said. "It could be important."

"Sure," Duke blinked. "Come on then. . . ." He headed up the stairs, with Seto following close behind. Everyone else trailed after them.

"I sure hope Yugi's group is alright," Téa moaned. She took out her phone and tried to call, but as she really expected, nothing happened. "Ugh! Why are some calls going through and not others?!"

"I'm sure that's Yami Marik's doing," Mokuba said in disgust. "He only lets the calls go through that he wants to go through!"

They had to admit that made sense, as distressing as it was to acknowledge.

"Okay," Duke said as they traveled down the back hallway, "it was here." He stopped in front of a particular room.

Seto pushed the door all the way open and walked in with a frown. "This was one of Gozaburo's favorite rooms," he realized. "I don't even use it much myself. There could still be documents or other material from Gozaburo's KaibaCorp in here."

Lector looked around, his stomach twisting in knots at the sight of the familiar space. Yes, Gozaburo had always enjoyed his time in here. He had called it his Planning Room. Sometimes Lector had joined him for brainstorming sessions for the company. If he hadn't decided to go along with Seto's plot to take over the company, Gozaburo might still be here now.

And what would the Big Five be doing? The same as they always had under Gozaburo's reign? It was hard to say.

Crump came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. For better or worse, they had made decisions that had led them down a much different path. Mostly for worse. But they were together, and Lector had to admit, they had certainly grown close through all of their plotting and failing and disastrous ends. He would never feel good about having betrayed Gozaburo, but he would always be grateful for the close friendships and familial bonds the Big Five had formed with each other.

Taking strength from Crump's actions, Lector stepped forward. "There most likely are such things in here, Mr. Kaiba. I know at least two hiding places Gozaburo had for his special papers."

Seto turned to look at him. "I should have known. Show me."

Lector crossed the room and pressed a carved sun at the edge of the fireplace. A secret panel slid open in the hearth, revealing a manilla envelope.

Seto bent down and picked it up, frowning in bewildered curiosity. As he slipped it open, Lector took out the thick packet of papers inside and unfolded them. "Just as I thought. Gozaburo's plans for the real-life Satellite Cannon."

Seto grabbed them for a closer look. "You made missiles all the time, but Gozaburo was really insane enough to want to create a real weapon based on the Satellite Cannon?!"

"That's right," Lector said.

"I was going to bring it to life," Nesbitt said.

Seto frowned. "I know you talked about it, but I hadn't realized it had gone as far as having actual blueprints for it. What if this entire, supposed plot has been a smokescreen to get at these plans?" He waved the papers.

Mokuba gasped. "Seto, you mean maybe no one's really trying to kill our enemies to avenge us and all they want is the plans for this awful thing?!"

"That's exactly what I mean," Seto said. He turned to glare at the Big Five. "What if the five of you started this plan? You could have intended to only pretend you were in danger to eventually find a way to get in here to look for these plans, only it got out of control when your enemies decided to take advantage of it and put you in danger for real."

"Oh, so I promptly told you of the secret places in this room because I wanted the plans myself, Mr. Kaiba?" Lector folded his arms. "Your theory doesn't make any sense."

"Neither do you people," Seto shot back.

"We didn't do anything crazy like this!" Crump yelled. "We're the victims here!"

"That's right," Gansley growled. "We knew nothing of any of this. Our introduction to this disaster was when some mysterious person emailed Lector and wanted to meet him on a street corner."

"And we tried to trace the email," Nesbitt said. "It was just one of those temporary accounts people can open. It was opened with a fake name at an Internet café and was already closed."

"Come on, don't fight," Mokuba pleaded. "What if they really didn't do this, Seto? Who else knows about these plans?"

"Various people at KaibaCorp," Lector said. "Anyone still there from Gozaburo's era. Not to mention Hobson. Of course, if he had wanted the plans, he could have snuck in at any time to abscond with them and no one would be the wiser."

"Unless he didn't know where the secret compartments are," Seto said. "Maybe he needed someone like you to get into this room to find them."

"Then maybe I should have been controlled instead of Nesbitt or Alister," Lector said. "I was the only one besides Gozaburo who actually saw where he was putting things."

"And knowing Gozaburo, I'll bet he had another chamber that even you didn't know about," Seto said.

"That's always possible," Lector conceded. "The other one I'm aware of is over here." He crossed the room and pressed on another carving, this one under the lightswitch. A small box in the wall opened, but this one was empty.

"Wait a sec!" Duke exclaimed. "That's right where Alister was standing when we found him! He turned on the lights! What if right before that, he opened that compartment and took out what was inside?!"

Seto's eyes narrowed. "Asking him if he did that would probably be pointless, but it's an intriguing problem. I'd like to know the answer." He looked to Nesbitt. "What was the fake name that person used on their email?"

"Red Hand," Nesbitt said with a scowl. "If you can believe that."

"I can believe it, but I doubt it was just a prank," Seto said. "There must have been some meaning behind choosing such an alias, considering how dangerous everything's become. Maybe there's some hidden clue in it to the person's identity."

"Alister has red hair," Mokuba mumbled under his breath. But he really didn't want to believe it was Alister.

"Since it was your butler who showed up to meet me, Mr. Kaiba, maybe you should be figuring out whether that alias could fit him," Lector said.

"I'll do that," Seto said. "But meanwhile, you'd better try to remember what was in that compartment."

"Well, it's not as big as the other one," Mokuba noted. "Maybe it was something small like a key?"

"That's right!" Lector exclaimed. "It was a key."

"To what?" Seto demanded. "A safe deposit box?"

"No," Lector said. "Gozaburo said it was a key to open a box he kept in his bedroom."

"Heh," Seto grunted. "Then it's probably still there. I locked up Gozaburo's bedroom and have never gone inside it since I took over." He headed out of the room. "I'll look into that, but first I'm going to bring up a list of all my employees and cross-check it with this Red Hand alias. I'll be downstairs if anyone needs me."

Mokuba looked to the Big Five. "What are you guys gonna do?"

They looked to each other. "Wait around and see what he comes up with, I guess," Crump shrugged. "Maybe check out Gozaburo's bedroom, although we probably can't open that box thing without the key. And then we'll go to a hotel. I'm not going to any of our houses tonight!"

"I'm going to try calling Yugi again," Téa said. "I'm really worried that we haven't heard from him in all this time!" She took out her phone and dialed.

"I wanna know why that freak's making it hard for our phone calls to go through," Crump said. "If he is. Is it really just for kicks or is there some purpose behind it?"

"There's usually a purpose," Marik said. ". . . Only that purpose is usually just to make life miserable for everyone."

"You really must've had issues, kid, to create something like that," Crump said.

"Oh, like you guys haven't come up with a lot of crummy stuff too," Mokuba shot back.

"Yeah, but none of us created some supernatural being that goes around trying to psychologically break people for the heck of it," Crump said.

Marik looked away. "I'll be paying for that the rest of my life, and beyond."

Rishid laid a hand on his shoulder. "Meanwhile, I understand that some of you released the mad doctor who is most likely also part of this scheme."

Johnson cleared his throat, uncomfortable. "Yes, well . . ."

"Come on, guys. Seriously?!" Téa regarded them all in frustration as she hung up after another vain attempt at reaching Yugi. "We all have to work together here! There's no time to be arguing like this!"

"That's right," Serenity nodded. "Can't we all just be civil to each other and wait to find out what Kaiba learns?"

No one responded, but they all drifted away to various parts of the room and stayed quiet.

"Nice work," Duke said with genuine appreciation and approval.

Serenity smiled a bit. After a few minutes of the welcome silence, she started to walk over to Nesbitt.

"Oh no," Duke said in alarm. "Serenity, you can't really be going to do this!"

Serenity just smiled at him. "I'll be fine." She walked over to Nesbitt at the window. "How are you doing?" she asked.

He regarded her in disbelief. "Why do you want to know, after all I did to you and your friends? You can't convince me you're not still angry."

"You're right, I can't," Serenity said. "I don't know how you could do the things you did to us and not feel horrible about it. But I've seen how anger poisoned you and your friends. I don't want to obsess over being angry at any of you . . . although I'll admit it's hard whenever I think about what you did to Tristan and what you tried to do to Duke, David, Mokuba, and Marik. But even after all you did, I knew you couldn't have always been a bad person. And today you showed that you do still have a heart. Now you know what it's like to have someone you love very much get hurt. I hope maybe that will help you want to be a better person in the future and not hurt someone else's loved ones."

"You're awfully naive," Nesbitt snorted. "I know that the best way to get at people is through their loved ones. Why do you think I took Mokuba in Noa's world? Or why I did it again when we took over the city?"

"You're right, you know that," Serenity calmly replied. "But from what you said, you yourself only lost things before. You thought your compound meant as much to you as Mokuba means to Seto Kaiba. Now you almost lost a person. Actually experiencing what Kaiba went through is different from blowing up your compound, I'm sure."

Nesbitt growled. "If anything, it makes me know all the more that going through someone's loved ones is the way to hurt them."

"But do you still _want_ to hurt them like that?" Serenity countered.

Nesbitt looked away and wouldn't answer.

"Okay, come on, Serenity." Duke stepped forward and gently laid his hands on her shoulders. "You've said your piece. I don't think you got through to that guy at all."

"Maybe not," Serenity said. She let Duke lead her away. "But it felt good to stand up to him . . . to confirm that I'm not afraid of him. And anyway . . . he couldn't answer my last question, Duke." She smiled. "If he was still the same person he was before, I think he would have."

Duke sighed. "Maybe you're right, but I'm still going to watch our backs around him."

"I don't think he'll hurt us," Serenity insisted.

"I wish I believed that," Duke said. "I really do."

Lector stayed silent, just watching them go back across the room to their friends. He didn't feel it was his place to speak, especially if Nesbitt preferred to present himself as tough around the kids, but he knew his friend was indeed different than he had been before. It was a very gradual transformation, as his own had been, but at this stage of it he agreed with Serenity. Nesbitt would not harm them.

He sighed as he gazed at the room. So many memories. . . . So many late-night planning sessions with Gozaburo. . . . The times Noa had walked in on them, wanting attention in some form from Gozaburo. . . . He had always received it. Surely Gozaburo hadn't just been putting on an act because of Lector's presence. Surely he had really been a loving father, as Lector had believed. But . . . did that mean he had changed to the abusive monster Seto had insisted he was later? Or was Seto lying to make himself look better?

Did it matter?

Either way, no matter what kind of person Gozaburo had been, Lector still felt the immense guilt and grief over not only having betrayed him, but having played a part in driving him to his disappearance and uploading his mind and spirit to virtual reality. Even Seto had finally given some hint of being troubled that he had been involved in that man's extreme reaction to being bought out.

 _I didn't know, Gozaburo,_ Lector thought silently to himself. _I didn't know losing the company would mean that much to you. It was a business decision on our parts, one that you might very well have made in our place. Only . . . if our positions were reversed, you wouldn't feel badly at all if I ran away and ended my life, would you? Not that that makes a difference. Even if you wouldn't have cared, it doesn't change that I do . . . that I couldn't even deal with the responsibility of what I'd done and I blamed Seto for everything._

 _I don't know where you are or if my words will even reach you. . . . And I know it doesn't change anything and probably won't make any difference to you. But . . . I'm sorry._

Crump walked over to him. "It's weird being in here, isn't it?"

Lector started. "You could say that. I don't know why we decided to wait for Mr. Kaiba in here."

"You wanna leave?"

". . . Maybe I'll wait in the hallway." Lector walked out of the room without further explanation and slumped against the wall outside.

Nesbitt joined him after a moment. "It's too uncomfortable in there with all those kids," he muttered. "Especially the ones I hurt."

Lector nodded in understanding. "Maybe someday you'll figure out how to feel about them, just as maybe someday I'll figure out how to feel about Gozaburo. In the meantime, I suppose it's okay to be uncomfortable."

Nesbitt folded his arms and looked away. "I can't figure that girl out. How does someone like that go through what we . . . what _I_ . . . put her through and not come out of it full of malice?"

"I have no answers," Lector said. "I don't know how Mokuba can care about me . . . how he could have wanted to save me and 'bring back' the me who cared before he even knew that I tried to protect him when we took over the city. It seems like any good memories he had of me would have been tainted and invalid after my betrayal."

A shrug. "Maybe that's why he wanted to save you . . . to prove those memories were something real that he could feel good about, instead of having to think they were ugly fakes."

"Maybe so," Lector mused. "But it's still strange regardless."

Nesbitt nodded. "It is." He looked away. "I'm still angry, but I don't know if I still hate. And if I hate, who do I hate? Kaiba? Those other kids? Or do I just hate the thing that took control of me today? Maybe I hate them all for different reasons. Or maybe I don't hate them . . . at least the kids . . . but I'm just angry without always understanding why."

"I honestly don't think you hate the kids, especially not the ones who weren't responsible for trapping us in virtual reality to begin with," Lector told him. "Maybe you're just confused. I know I am. I still don't know how I feel about Mr. Kaiba anymore, either. I'm still angry at him to some extent. But I won't act on it."

Nesbitt stared up at the ceiling. "I probably won't either."

"You won't," Lector said.

Nesbitt stared at him. "Why? And don't give me the same ridiculous answer that girl gave me."

"You won't because you're trying to prove you can move past your anger," Lector said. "Somewhere inside you, you want to prove it or you wouldn't be trying. Maybe you'll always be angry at him for making you blow up your compound. It's reasonable and understandable. But that doesn't mean you haven't or can't get past the feelings of wanting to act on it."

". . . It's a nice thought, at least," Nesbitt said gruffly. "But how did you start being able to get past your feelings? Was it really just that woman reminding you that you betrayed Gozaburo too?"

"That was certainly a large part of it," Lector said. "That, and just being tired of the rut we were stuck in. I wanted to live again, but not to keep trying and failing and making everything worse for myself.

"Then there was Mokuba. . . . I kept thinking how he idolized Mr. Kaiba and I wondered if he really saw something others didn't. He made a good point about his brother preserving our bodies when he didn't have to. He could've ended life support for all of us, or never started it to begin with. He could have found a way to get rid of us without it bringing bad publicity."

Nesbitt growled. "I hate that now I owe something to Kaiba because of that. But . . ." His shoulders slumped. "I can't deny I'm grateful. I'd rather have my own body than someone else's. I just thought there was no way to ever get back to my body once it was disconnected from the virtual reality pod."

"We all did," Lector said. "I still don't fully understand how and why I was allowed back into my body when I couldn't re-enter it before, after we were free of Noa's world and became wandering spirits in the real world."

A shrug. "Maybe you had to earn the right to get it back? Although the rest of us just got back in because of that Yami Marik character. You wonder why the positive forces didn't keep us from that."

"Maybe by then it was better that you got back into your bodies," Lector suggested. "Dr. Portman was using them as mindless zombies. Not to mention that all of you . . . sacrificed yourselves for me. . . ." He shuddered at the memories. "That angel Kasumi indicated that that act was what earned you the right to have another chance."

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one," Nesbitt grunted. "I was never much for believing in anything you couldn't see, whether that was God, angels . . . friendship. . . ." He looked away, a bit embarrassed.

"I didn't realize any of us believed in friendship," Lector admitted. "But we all did, quietly, without really knowing it or needing to test it. And when we had to test it, we all came through. You don't know how much that meant to me, to know that . . . especially after doubting all of you. . . ."

"I think I know . . . kind of," Nesbitt said. "Discovering friendship is real was . . . amazing. Incredible. I thought it was only for naive kids who didn't know better. But it was for us too."

Lector slowly nodded. "And I'm glad of it," he proclaimed.

"Now if we can all just stay alive through this mess," Nesbitt muttered.

Lector fell silent. He certainly hoped for that as well.

xxxx

Downstairs, Seto was hard at work on the master computer, cross-checking his list of employees against the bizarre Red Hand fake name. "Can't you go any faster?" he complained.

"I think I'm doing quite well, considering the sheer number of employees you have," the computer replied. "Anyway, I'm narrowing the list down a good deal. Look at these, for starters."

Seto scrolled through the list. "Most of these people I don't even know personally," he frowned. ". . . Wait a minute!" He leaned forward. "Scott Irvine has been called 'Red Hand' by fellow employees because he always bleeds them dry at poker?!"

"I thought that one would interest you," the computer said triumphantly.

"Scott Irvine is one of my top research engineers. He was vital during my examination of Obelisk before Battle City." Seto slumped back in the seat. "Only I have a hard time picturing him going so overboard with loyalty to me that he would threaten people who have betrayed me."

"Especially when you're often in a bad mood around him," said the computer. "Just telling it like it is."

"You always do," Seto grunted. "No, I think someone might be deliberately setting Irvine up as a patsy, the same way Alister's supposedly been set up. They would know a moniker like Red Hand could be traced back to him easily enough. Irvine would be too smart to use that as a calling card unless he wanted to be found out, and why would he want that?"

"Search me. Are you gonna talk to him even if you don't think he's guilty?"

"You bet I am." Seto reached for the phone. "And there's no time like the present."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Yugi's group had been having quite the adventure. They had started by trying to go to KaibaCorp in case the brothers and the Big Five were still at the medical center. They didn't find any of them, but they did see a suspicious person heading inside the main entrance after casting a furtive glance over his shoulder.

"So what's up with that?" Joey blinked. "Who was that guy?"

"I think we should go after him and find out," Yugi declared. "It doesn't look like he was supposed to be there."

"The door probably locked after him," Tristan said. "It's way after normal office hours."

"Let's try anyway," Yugi insisted. "Kaiba and the others could even be in the main part of the building getting hurt. The doctor said they left the medical center, but they could have decided to go in the main part for some reason."

"I guess that's possible," Joey sighed. "Especially knowing the crazy stuff Kaiba usually gets involved in. The others too."

"If all else fails, we can go back to the medical center and try to sneak into the other part of the building from there," Solomon suggested. "There must be a connecting door somewhere."

"Grampa!" Yugi exclaimed. "I hope Mom never hears you say anything like that!"

"Oh, fiddlesticks," Solomon snorted. "We do need to get over there and see what's going on. As you pointed out, Yugi, someone could be hurt. If we take a round-about way to get there, it's not hurting anyone."

"Well, that's true," Yugi said slowly.

They went up to the door and Atem pulled on it. To their surprise, it opened. "That's odd," Atem remarked. "You don't suppose he deliberately left it unlocked because he's waiting for someone else?"

"Maybe some of us should stake things out here and find out," Tristan said.

"That's a good idea," Solomon said in approval. "Alright; Tristan and I will keep watch for anyone else who might enter. The rest of you go try to find Kaiba, and whoever that was who came in."

"Okay," Yugi said slowly. "If you're sure. . . ."

Tristan gave him a thumbs-up. "We're sure. Now go on!"

Joey looked around the dimmed corridors and dark offices with unease. "Man, this place really looks different at night. Kind of creepy, almost." He slowly walked ahead, with Yugi and Atem scrambling to catch up.

"Maybe we should call Téa and let her know what's going on," Atem said.

"Good idea." Yugi took out his phone and tried to dial. After a moment he frowned. "There's no answer. . . ."

Atem was concerned. "We reached Téa before. Now it's just like when we've tried to call Kaiba."

"That can't be a coincidence," Yugi said. "Something's keeping most of our calls from going through!"

"It certainly seems that way," Atem agreed with a frown.

"And I don't see anybody here," Joey said, looking back at them while he walked on. "Maybe we should call it quits and . . ." He went stiff as he slammed into someone coming from around the corner.

"Joey!" Yugi groaned.

A tall man with a silver beard and long hair stared at the group. A nametag on his white lab coat read _Scott Irvine._ "What is this?! Who are you people?!"

Yugi quickly hurried over to try to smooth out the mess. "We're sorry," he said. "We're friends of Seto Kaiba's and we're worried about him. He was coming down here, but we can't reach him on the phone."

Scott Irvine folded his arms. "You're _friends_ of Mr. Kaiba's?" He sounded and looked incredulous.

"Yeah. Like, I know Kaiba always said he didn't have any friends, but he finally thinks of us as friends," Joey rambled. "Come on! You've gotta recognize Yugi, right?"

Scott started. "Oh. Of course, Yugi Muto. Well, I haven't heard from Mr. Kaiba either. If he was going to come down here, he didn't tell me."

"But you just got here," Yugi said. "We watched you go in."

"And you left the door unlocked," Joey said. "Was that on purpose? Are you waiting for somebody else to come in and meet you?"

Scott looked genuinely chagrined. "No. I shouldn't have done that." He hastened back into the lobby and over to the doors. "Are you going to stay here looking for Mr. Kaiba? If not, I should let all of you out right now before I lock this."

Tristan and Solomon came out from the shadows. "What's going on?" Tristan asked.

Before anyone could answer, Scott's phone rang. "Oh. Excuse me. I should take this."

As he answered, Joey leaned over closer than was really polite. Then his eyes went wide. "Guys! He's talking to Kaiba!" he hissed.

Tristan stared. "So his call went through when ours didn't?!"

"How very strange," Solomon frowned.

After a moment Scott hung up. "Well, it seems Mr. Kaiba is back at his house," he said. "Not only that, he wants me to come there to talk to him. When I said all of you were here looking for him, he said to bring you along."

"Okay then," Yugi blinked, still bewildered. "Come on, guys. . . ."

The group trouped out of the building and Scott went to his car parked near theirs. "Just follow behind me and we'll all get there," Scott said.

"I wonder what Kaiba wants to see him about," Tristan said.

"I suppose when we get there, we'll all find out," Atem said.

A blue car pulled up near them and Alister got out of the passenger door. "What's going on?" he asked.

They all jumped. "Oh . . . we're going back to Kaiba's place with this scientist," Yugi said.

"What are you doin' at KaibaCorp?" Joey asked. "Last we knew, you were over at Kaiba's place and being taken home."

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of being used in this scheme, whatever it is," Alister growled.

"We'll all tired of it," Valon said from the back seat. "And we wanna find out why it's happening!"

"Everything seems to center around Kaiba, so we thought we might find some answers here," Raphael said, still gripping the steering wheel.

"I really don't think you will, gentlemen," Scott blinked.

"Tell you what," Yugi said. "Come back with us. Kaiba might want to talk to you anyway, Alister."

Alister considered that and nodded. "Alright." He got back into the car.

xxxx

Lector and Nesbitt looked up when Seto finally came up the corridor, a computer print-out in hand. "Did you learn anything?" Nesbitt gruffly asked.

"Maybe," Seto said. "The computer came up with a few names to check up on. Only one of them perfectly fits the Red Hand moniker, however, and I've called him to come over." He held up the print-out. "Scott Irvine."

Lector looked at the man's profile. "I remember him. He was part of Gozaburo's KaibaCorp."

"Yes, I know," Seto said. "He worked in your department, didn't he, Nesbitt?"

"He did," Nesbitt agreed. "He always seemed loyal to KaibaCorp."

"He still seems to be," Seto said. "I just don't know if he's loyal to the extent that he would try to avenge any perceived wrongdoings against the company or the Kaiba family."

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Lector frowned. "Although considering our problems using the telephone tonight, the fact that your call went through seems suspicious, Mr. Kaiba."

"I know," Seto growled. "If that creature is really monitoring our calls, then for some reason he wanted that one to go through. I don't know what to make of that."

"Aren't you the least bit curious as to why we're standing outside the room?" Nesbitt asked.

"Hardly," Seto responded. "Either the room itself was too much for you or some of the people were." With that he started to walk past them and into the room.

Mokuba was already running to meet him. "Big brother! I heard what you were saying. You think Scott Irvine might be mixed up in this?!"

"I don't know," Seto said. "I hope not. Although on the other hand, he's our best lead, so in one way it would be nice if it was him and we could get this ridiculous mystery solved before the night's over."

"There's one thing you might be forgettin'," Lector interjected. "My cook apparently said that the mysterious person she was talking to was another of our servants."

"I haven't forgot," Seto said, "but somehow I doubt one of your servants would want to avenge wrongdoings done to the Kaiba family. Whoever that servant is, they're probably in touch with the true overseer of the plot. I suggest you make a list of all of your servants and try to decide who might be the most likely suspect."

"Already done," Gansley said smoothly as he came to the door. "Crump, Johnson, and I have been doing exactly that. We know all of Nesbitt's and Lector's servants as well." He held up several sheets of paper.

"We've been putting down any time any of them started acting weird," Crump said.

"That must be a long list," Nesbitt grunted.

"Here." Gansley handed it to him. "See what you and Lector can add."

Nesbitt took it, and he and Lector started looking through it. Every now and then, one of them would remember something else and scrawl it in.

"Maybe while we're waiting for Scott Irvine, we should go try to find that box in Gozaburo's room," Mokuba slowly suggested. He knew Seto didn't like going in there. He had revamped the entire mansion to be for them instead of for Gozaburo, but he hadn't felt like he could be in Gozaburo's room regardless. There was too much of the man's presence in there, as was the case with this room downstairs. So Seto had locked the rooms away instead.

"Maybe," Seto agreed, "although we likely won't be able to open it without the key. Still, we should make sure we have it in our possession before whoever does have the key gets it."

"That may have already happened," Yami Bakura flatly replied as he came to the doorway. "The butler could have done it."

Duke snarked in spite of himself.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Let's find out." He turned and headed up the hallway. "Lector, did Gozaburo tell you where in his room he had the box?"

"No, he didn't," Lector said. "I suppose that was one of those secrets he wanted kept to himself."

The whole group followed Seto up the stairs and to a locked room. Only Mokuba, Téa, and Lector saw Seto's hands shaking slightly as he got out the keys and selected the correct one. It wasn't an easy thing for him to enter this room again, especially not knowing how he might feel. Mokuba stepped closer to Seto, protectively. A slight smile crossed Seto's features and he finally unlocked the door, pushing it open.

The chill that swept over everyone was musty and palpable. Both Seto and Lector stared into the darkness, their eyes wide, badly shaken.

"Gozaburo?" Lector whispered.

Although Seto did not speak, it was clear that he also felt the man's presence. But then he shook his head and reached inside the room, flipping on the light. "Superstitious nonsense," he muttered. "Gozaburo is long gone. All that remains in here is a memory."

"Some cultures say that as long as you're remembered, you never really die," Crump pointed out.

"Well, Gozaburo _is_ dead," Mokuba insisted. He looked up at Seto. "But we don't have to do this, big brother. . . ."

"No." In determination, Seto forced himself to walk into the room. "We do."

Worried, Mokuba followed. Lector trailed after him, staying alert for anything else that might jump out at them. They had returned to the real world as wandering spirits following Noa's attempt to destroy them; who was to say that Gozaburo hadn't done the same upon the destruction of the virtual world? He might be too weighed down by his anger and hatred to move on to the afterlife.

Téa, Marik, and Crump followed the others in as well. Yami Bakura stayed in the doorway, frowning, studying first the room and then the Infinity Ring.

"What is it, Yami?" Bakura asked in concern. "Is there really someone in there? . . . Besides the living people, of course. . . ."

"I don't know," Yami Bakura growled. "I could always sense the spirits of Kul Elna, and as a spirit, other spirits as well. But with this Ring, I am fully mortal and I don't have any particular sixth sense. I might sense spirits who are close to me; I have seen my sister. But I might not have any sensation about someone I have no ties to whatsoever. And the Ring is no help."

"Oh dear." Bakura gripped the edge of the doorframe, praying that some disaster wouldn't befall any of them.

Téa shivered as she helped the others look for any box-shaped object in the room. Maybe it was just because Seto and Lector thought they felt something, but she couldn't swear there wasn't something ominous in the room.

"I don't really think Gozaburo's in here," Mokuba said to her, as though sensing her thoughts. "But the room brings him back somehow. . . . I'm sure Seto's having a lot of bad memories right now." He hurried over to his brother without waiting for Téa's reply.

"The room sure brings something back," Mai muttered from the doorway. "It should be aired out every once in a while. Then it wouldn't have this chill."

Gradually, some of the others started to trickle into the room as well. But, not wanting it to become an overcrowded mass of confusion, not everyone went.

In the end, it was Mokuba who suddenly exclaimed, "I think I've got it!"

Everyone hurried over to where he was pulling a dark green strongbox out from a secret panel in Gozaburo's walk-in closet.

"Is there still something in it?" Crump wondered.

Mokuba shook it. "Sounds like it." He set it on his lap and pulled at the lid. "It's still locked, too."

"Good work, Mokuba." Seto bent down and took it from him. "I'll try to pick the lock. If I can't, I'll have to store it someplace safe until we find that key."

"Are you still planning to question Alister about the key?" Duke asked.

"Of course," Seto said. "Even if he was controlled, he might have taken it and then discovered it in his pocket later. He very well might have been looking for it, at least, since he was right by the lightswitch." Carrying the box under his arm, he brushed past everyone else and headed in determination for the door. Everyone quickly followed, and Seto closed and locked the door with a flourish.

Mokuba relaxed. The cold feeling that had persisted in that room was gone out here. "Hopefully we won't have to go in there again."

Seto thoroughly agreed.

Downstairs, the doorbell had rang and the front door was being opened by Velma. "Hellooo!" called a familiar voice.

Everyone jumped.

"Joey!" Téa exclaimed in relief. She ran to the top of the stairs. Indeed, Yugi's entire group was coming in, safe and sound, and the bikers, plus a man she didn't recognize, were with them.

Yugi smiled up at her. "Hi, stranger. Is everything okay here?"

"Yeah, except for Hobson still being MIA," Téa said. "What happened to you guys?! Why didn't you answer your phones?!"

"Us? What about you?" Tristan retorted.

"Nobody's calls went through!" Mokuba said in disbelief.

"Except Mr. Kaiba's to me," said the newcomer as he stepped forward.

"Scott Irvine," Seto said brusquely as explanation to all the clueless expressions. "Let's go in my office; we have a lot to talk about."

xxxx

Talking with Scott didn't do a whole lot for the solving of their mystery. He seemed genuinely baffled by their reports of the chaos, and though of course it wasn't a surprise that he vehemently denied any responsibility in the plot, many found themselves believing him.

He was also clueless about the contents of the box, which Seto could not open. (Alister did not have the key.) But he did have one piece of advice. "If Gozaburo locked that, you can be sure you're not going to get it open any easy way without the key. I'll bet that if you try smashing it open, it will implode."

Téa gasped. "Seriously?!"

Scott nodded. "Anything Gozaburo wanted kept secret, he would rather see destroyed than fall into someone else's hands. He had me design some of his locks for him. Don't worry; I was always careful to design them so that they would only destroy the contents and not anyone unfortunate enough to be trying to open the box."

"Well, that's good," Téa said emphatically.

"And I suppose it's too much to hope for that you designed this lock," Seto growled.

"It is," Scott said. "Too much to hope for, that is. I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba." He frowned. "Although since he had someone else design this lock, it's always possible that this other person didn't have enough morals to make it safe. I'm afraid Gozaburo wouldn't have been above allowing someone who was attempting to break into the box to be seriously hurt or worse."

"That's crazy!" Joey burst out. "What if he lost the key?! How would he get into it?!"

"He'd have to call whoever designed the lock and have them open it," Scott said.

"Well, do you have any idea who that might have been, in this case?" Seto demanded.

"I'm afraid not," Scott said. "But you might try checking with Scarlet."

"Seto's secretary?" Mokuba blinked in confused surprise. "But she wasn't Gozaburo's secretary. . . ."

"No, but she inherited all of the records when she took over," Scott pointed out. "And she was around when Gozaburo owned the company. She was a stenographer."

Seto suddenly looked thoughtful. "I'll do that." He stood up from his desk. "Thank you for coming down, Irvine."

"My pleasure, Mr. Kaiba. I just hope you catch whoever's really behind this before someone really gets hurt." Scott turned to go. "Goodbye, all."

A chorus of Goodbyes answered him.

Everyone waited until he was out of earshot before speaking. Then Crump said, "You know, I'd forgot about Scarlet being your secretary."

"Yes, and 'scarlet' is a synonym for 'red,'" Seto said.

"No way!" Téa gasped. "You think your secretary is the one behind all this?!"

"I'm not discounting the possibility," Seto said. "She could have been trying to cast suspicion on Irvine but also tossing a snarky jab at the Big Five that she was responsible, not thinking they'd be smart enough to figure it out."

Lector scowled. "I think we all got it when Mr. Irvine mentioned her name."

"Yeah!" Joey blurted. "And that whole weird fake name totally fits her too! 'Red' for Scarlet, and 'Hand' because she worked a lot with her hands, writing and stuff . . . or er, somethin' like that. . . ." He trailed off, suddenly not sure he hadn't said something stupid.

Seto headed for the door. "She may have had something like that in mind. Now I'm going to go over there and surprise her."

"She might already be gone," Yami Bakura pointed out. "I'm sure she knew you'd figure it out shortly after hearing that alias."

"Possibly," Seto agreed. "But I'm going anyway."

"And we're all coming too," Téa declared.

"I figured as much," Seto said. "She might be there whether she thinks I've figured it out or not. She might even think she's doing a good thing, if she's really using this avenging angel slant. In any case, I'm going to start off just asking her about the box's lock's designer and see where things go from there."

"So what are you gonna do if she confesses she's behind all of this?" Crump asked as they all chased Seto through the house and outside.

"I haven't decided yet," Seto said. "But I can tell you this: if she was responsible, things won't go well for her since Mokuba could have been hurt by that mystery person this morning."

Mokuba looked down. "I hope it's not her," he said quietly. "I always liked her. . . . I hate to think she'd suddenly go crazy like this. . . ."

Marik laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, I just had an idea," Crump said. "Why don't you also tell her one of us kicked the bucket from one of these 'accidents'? See how she takes it."

Seto gave a thoughtful nod. "Maybe I will. That's actually not a bad idea. Decide among yourselves who's going to play dead and he won't come inside with us."

"Since I was the last one targeted, why not say it was me?" Johnson suggested.

"Fine," Seto shrugged.

It was a short drive to Scarlet's house. The limousine led the way, with all the other vehicles following. The snow had started up again by the time they all arrived.

"It doesn't look like anyone's home," Alister frowned.

It didn't, but Seto was determined to try anyway. He got out, headed up the walk, and banged on the door. "Scarlet!"

Several others gradually emerged from the assorted vehicles and started to wander along the property, looking for any clues as to whether Scarlet was there or if she could be responsible for this mess. All was silent until a car slowly turned onto the street, the falling snow illuminated in the headlights. Bakura glanced at it, then away. But something made him turn back.

"Yami!" he suddenly cried out in alarm.

Yami Bakura whirled and ducked just as someone in the back seat opened fire once, twice, three times. He crashed into the snow on his stomach, snarling as the cold pressed against his chest. Then the car sped up and was gone.

Bakura ran over, kicking up more snow as he went. "Yami, are you alright?!"

Yami Bakura growled. "Fine."

"So now they're instigating drive-by shootings?!" Mai cried. "This is outrageous!"

"I think those other shots were meant for Rishid and me," Marik said. He looked badly shaken. When he looked to Rishid he was even more alarmed. "Rishid?!"

The big man was clutching his right arm with a grimace. "I'm alright," he tried to assure his brother. "It just grazed me as it went past."

Ishizu was horrified anyway. "The next time it could be even worse!"

Seto was clenching his fists, his eyes burning. "There won't be a next time," he vowed. "This is going to stop." He looked down the street. "Either we were followed here or that car was lying in wait for us, knowing we'd be coming here." He looked back to Scarlet's house. "And I'm going in there right now."

He kicked the door open.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Téa stared in disbelief as the door flew open, banging against the opposite wall. "Kaiba?!"

"You are so going to get in trouble," Tristan frowned.

"So is Scarlet, if she's involved in this!" Seto retorted. "And if she's not, maybe she's laying hurt in here!" He stepped into the entryway.

"Kaiba . . ." Atem took one step in the doorway and froze. The Infinity Puzzle was flashing worryingly. "Something is very wrong in here. I can feel the presence of evil."

Yami Bakura growled. "Yes, in here there is no mistake. It isn't just a memory; I sense it as well."

"So what does that mean, exactly?" Joey gulped.

"I don't know," Atem admitted. "I can't get a clear reading on it. I only know that Scarlet or someone else in this house has been doing something very bad."

Mokuba moved closer to Seto. "I don't like this. . . ."

Seto growled. He wasn't sure where Mokuba would be safer. Leaving him outside right after a drive-by shooting seemed preposterous, however, so he preferred keeping Mokuba with him despite the possibly disturbing house.

"Don't wander off," he ordered.

"Oh, don't worry, I won't," Mokuba exclaimed.

Several people went in the house to look around, while others stayed outside. Marik and Ishizu tended to Rishid in the limousine, still badly shaken over the shooting.

"It's strange that no one has called the police," Ishizu noted.

"The whole street is in darkness," Marik frowned. "Maybe no one is home tonight."

"That is just as well," Rishid said, grimacing again from the pain as Ishizu cleaned the wound. "Although we may need to call the police ourselves."

"Yes," Ishizu sighed. "We may."

The search of the house proved fruitless. Scarlet was definitely not home, nor was anyone else. Seto was quite sure she lived alone, anyway. There was nothing to indicate that she was in any way responsible for the pain and misery being heaped upon people Seto knew and some that he cared about, but he was still suspicious and still furious.

He recognized the cold feeling in the house as well. It was hate, it was anger, and it was vengeance. That alone made him think Scarlet could be mixed up in this; the feeling was too strong to pass off as imagination. And yet, something about it made him feel that he was still missing a piece of the puzzle. Scarlet herself surely didn't have feelings that ran this deep; he couldn't believe he wouldn't have sensed it when being around her. It was someone else who hated this much. Someone . . .

"Kaiba?"

He started and came back to the present at Téa's voice. She was standing in front of him, regarding him in concern. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes." Seto quickly walked past her. "There's nothing to see here. We should go."

"What are you gonna do about her door, big brother?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm going to write her a note and tell her to contact me as soon as she gets in," Seto replied. "I'll put it on the door."

"But it won't even shut the right way now," Téa objected.

"I'll also have Roland come out here and watch for anyone trying to go in," Seto said. "If burglars try to walk in before Scarlet comes back, he'll be here to see about it. More importantly, maybe he can find us some clues to what's going on here."

"What if Scarlet really isn't responsible for any of this?" Mokuba said. "What if she's even a victim? What if she's been kidnapped or something?"

"I don't know why she would be," Seto returned. "She's always been loyal, as far as we know."

Of course, what if there was something they didn't know? He frowned. He couldn't think of any reason why she would hate him. Then again, his enemies sometimes came up with the most bizarre reasons for it. And there was that dark feeling in her house, although there was nothing to indicate it was directed at him. If she was a part of this, she must be using the avenging angel tactic and want to get at Seto's enemies, not Seto himself.

Not that that made this any less disturbing. Seto was growing more and more angry that someone was taking it upon themselves to do this. If they thought they were doing him a favor, they were dead wrong. And since Mokuba had been attacked that morning, he wasn't even sure he believed the avenging angel slant. It seemed more likely to him that whoever it was wanted the plans for Gozaburo's real-life Satellite Cannon and whatever was in the strongbox. All of the attacks could be a distraction, a smokescreen.

"I was hoping all of this might get solved tonight," Crump moaned.

"We all were," Lector said. "Now it looks like we'll have to go to that hotel."

Seto clenched his teeth in frustration. "We'll all have to go to our homes, it looks like. Unless something else goes wrong, nothing further is getting solved tonight."

When they went outside, Duke presented Seto with the three bullets. "They were pretty easy to find in the snow," he said. "I thought you might want these to try tracing the gun."

Seto nodded in approval. "I'll get on that. . . . Thanks." He headed for the limousine, as did Mokuba.

"How's Rishid?!" Mokuba immediately asked Marik.

"He's alright," Marik said in relief. "It really did just graze him. But it could have been so much worse, and still could be if we're attacked again."

Ishizu nodded. "Somehow we have to solve this, and soon!"

"Hopefully Scarlet will be at work tomorrow," Seto said.

xxxx

" _Lector! You have to get up! You have to . . ."_

" _He's not breathing, Nesbitt! You killed him!"_

" _No, he's not dead!" Nesbitt snarled, pushing Crump away and bending over Lector in desperation. But all of his attempts at CPR and artificial respiration failed. He stumbled to his feet, shaking, his eyes haunted._

" _Nesbitt, you weren't in control," Johnson tried to say._

" _That doesn't matter!" Nesbitt screamed. "Crump is right; I killed him! Satellite Cannon, strike me down as well!"_

" _What?!" Crump struggled up. "You're crazy, Nesbitt! Lector would never want you to kill yourself over it!"_

" _And neither do we!" Gansley exclaimed. "Isn't it bad enough to lose one?!"_

 _But it was too late to stop it. The Satellite Cannon's beam cut through the clouds while Nesbitt simply stood and stared up at it, waiting for death. Then it hit and it was all over. He collapsed into the snow next to Lector._

Crump fell out of bed with a heavy _thud._ He started awake, breathing heavily, trying to adjust to the darkened room. After a moment he muttered to himself and started trying to untangle himself from the blankets.

That was the first chance he'd had to sleep since what had happened in the afternoon. He had known he would have nightmares, but he hadn't expected them to be quite like that.

He shuddered. Was that what Lector was going through every night? He didn't think he could take it, if so. Nesbitt was probably having a rotten time of it tonight too.

The only upside was that at least they didn't have to worry about being murdered in their sleep. They had taken a hotel suite with multiple bedrooms and none of their servants knew where they were. At least . . . they hoped their servants didn't know.

He pulled himself up, sitting on the edge of the bed. Why would he have had a dream quite like that? Deep down, was he upset with Nesbitt, even though Nesbitt hadn't been under his own power when he had attacked? Or did he just fear what Nesbitt might have done if Lector had been dead?

Yeah . . . that was surely it. He wasn't angry with Nesbitt; he was just horrified by the day's events and everything that could have happened.

He sighed and looked over at Gansley in the room's other bed. Gansley seemed to be soundly asleep, but that wasn't a surprise. Gansley was the deepest sleeper of the group. Not even Crump falling out of bed right next to him had roused him.

Crump got up, shuffling into the living room. Nesbitt has chosen the daybed, out of shame or guilt or just plain being introverted and not wanting to share one of the suite's two bedrooms. He seemed to be completely asleep as well, somewhat to Crump's surprise.

The drapes blowing about gave him a start. The sliding door onto the balcony was cracked open; Johnson was leaning against the railing, wide awake and clearly troubled.

Crump stared in further surprise. Out of all of them, he had expected that the least. He grabbed his coat off a chair and went out to join him, pulling the door completely shut after him.

"You're gonna give Nesbitt pneumonia, leaving the door open like that," he scolded. "And probably catch it yourself."

Johnson shrugged. "I just barely came out here. I wasn't going to stay long."

"And what if we get found here, huh? They'd try to knock you off the balcony!"

Johnson turned to look at Crump, leaning on the railing with one elbow. "We're not going to be found by our servants here, Crump, and we all know it," he said. "Do you want to know the real reason we decided to all crowd into the hotel's Grand Suite? Because we're scared. We don't want to be alone."

Crump looked away. Out of all of them, Lector and Johnson were the most likely to be blunt about the group's feelings.

"No point in being scared if we're safe here," Crump muttered.

"We couldn't be any closer tonight unless we'd taken a smaller suite that only had one bed per room. But after that disastrous night during the business conference in San Francisco, I'm quite sure none of us will ever be that desperate."

Now Crump flushed. Everyone had been in town that weekend, forcing them to take the only room left and crowd into two beds and the daybed. Johnson had learned the hard way that Crump liked to hug things in his sleep. All that night, Crump had preferred to hold onto Johnson instead of the pillow or the quilt or the edge of the mattress. Meanwhile, Lector had fallen out of bed trying to share it with Nesbitt. Lector had mistakenly believed it would be easier to share a bed with the smaller-framed Nesbitt rather than the heavy Gansley, but Nesbitt was used to being the only person in the bed and had tried to claim the entire thing in his sleep. Gansley, having known sharing would be a disaster, had wisely claimed the daybed.

"Okay, so we wanted to stay together tonight. So what?" Crump finally said.

Johnson looked out at the city. "Even if our servants can't get at us here, we're probably not safe from the magical madman who hurt Nesbitt and Lector. He could show up here at any time. Even if there's nothing we can do against him, we like to fool ourselves into thinking we might have a chance if we're all together."

Crump didn't want to admit that was true. "But . . . if we don't have a chance when we're all together . . . what hope is there?" he said softly.

From Johnson's eyes, he didn't have an answer. And he was just as terrified that they weren't really safe from Yami Marik as Crump was, if not more.

". . . So, why did you wake up?" he finally chose to ask.

Crump sighed. "Bad dream," he admitted. "Lector was dead and Nesbitt killed himself out of guilt and grief. . . . You?"

Johnson adjusted his glasses and looked away. "Just thinking. . . . Trying to be logical about all this."

"You woke up to be logical?" Crump looked doubtful.

"Well, why not? Someone here has to be." Johnson smirked.

Crump scowled. Johnson was trying to switch to full-blown obnoxious mode. He probably hoped Crump hadn't seen that look in his eyes a moment ago.

"Hey, come on," he said. "I know you're hurting too. Why deny it?"

Johnson wouldn't face him. "Because if I break . . . I don't know if I'll be able to pull myself together again," he whispered. He slumped forward, gripping the railing. Crump's simple question had seemed to be the key that unlocked the desperate hold Johnson had over his emotions.

Crump stared at him in surprise. "You, Johnson? But you always have it together!"

"Sure I do in court," Johnson said. "But not when things start going wrong. I crumble so easily then. I say things I don't mean . . . I don't care if I hurt people I care about. . . . When we laughed and encouraged Khu to put Lector in the darkness, and then we thought he was gone, I . . ." He shook his head.

"I remember how shook you were about that," Crump said. "I was too. It was Gansley who tried to act like he didn't care then."

"And today. . . . I just calmly told Nesbitt Lector was breathing. . . . I thought he was, but then I wasn't sure. Maybe I was only seeing what I wanted to see. I didn't know for sure until he woke up. Nesbitt completely fell apart, but I didn't. I couldn't. I was frozen. But I wanted to scream . . . cry . . . something. . . ." From Johnson's wavering voice, he sounded like he was at the point of crying right then.

"Hey, it's okay," Crump said soothingly, drawing an arm around Johnson's shoulders.

"I just don't know how much more I can take," Johnson choked out. "Everything that went wrong when we tried to take over KaibaCorp, and everything that's gone wrong since. . . . And even now that we're finally back in our bodies, things are still going wrong. Everyone wants us either tortured or dead—some nutcase, a mad scientist, our servants . . . ! I always believed the end justifies the means, or at least, I made myself believe it. I told myself I wasn't doing anything wrong, that none of us were. But it's obvious that we're all being punished for what we've done, by God, Karma, whatever you want to believe dishes out such punishment. And Lector was never as bad as we were and he wanted to change before we were willing to try, but he's being put through so much of what's going wrong! Why? It should be me!" He hit the railing with the palm of one hand. "Don't you understand that, Crump?! It should be _me!_ " He pulled away from Crump and leaned forward on the railing, digging both hands into his hair.

Crump just stared at him, at a complete loss to deal with the pent-up anguish of the formerly crooked lawyer. He had wanted, encouraged Johnson to open up to him, but he had never expected this.

"You want to know why I woke up, Crump? Because I was dreaming that all of you were laying dead at my feet. I cheated all through my life, and somehow I'd cheated again and managed to stay alive while everyone else suffered. I'm the only one who managed to escape a death plot so far. Who knows what will happen when you're targeted! You'll probably be hurt too."

"I had no idea you were hurting so much," Crump said at last. "But it's not true that you escaped. Okay, sure, you didn't get beaned by that runaway cart. With you, everything happening to the rest of us is getting you right in the heart, especially since you think you should be suffering instead of us. Maybe you're the one who's hurting the most of any of us."

Johnson was silent for a moment. "That's an interesting argument."

"I think about more than numbers and penguins and pretty girls," Crump said.

Johnson stayed on the balcony for several more minutes, gathering his composure. Finally he turned back to face his friend. He was calm and collected again, the smooth-talking lawyer Crump recognized. "We should go inside before both of us catch pneumonia."

"Not me," Crump said as Johnson opened the door. "I love the cold, remember? I don't have to be a giant penguin to appreciate that."

"Hmm." Johnson smirked and stepped back into the living room. Crump followed him, pulling the door shut behind him.

Nesbitt was still asleep. As usual, he had sprawled across the entire bed and was even hanging somewhat off of it.

"I can't believe he's really staying asleep," Crump remarked.

"He looks calm, but don't believe it for a moment," Johnson replied. He headed for the room he was sharing with Lector, but paused and looked back. "Crump . . . thank you."

"Sure," Crump said with a surprised blink.

"Of course, I'll probably deny we ever had this conversation if you bring it up again." And Johnson vanished into his room.

Crump sighed. Johnson probably would at that. But while Crump might have calmed him for the moment, he was sure that that much pain would not fade so easily. Johnson would have to really deal with it eventually.

Crump slipped into the room he was sharing with Gansley. Their leader was still apparently asleep as well, currently unbothered by the cares and sorrows that they were dealing with, but was he really? Johnson had been hiding so much. What kind of pain were the others carrying deep down?

Slowly Crump swung his legs onto the bed and burrowed into the quilt. It was only then that he realized he still hadn't removed his coat.

xxxx

Seto took a long time to even feel like going to sleep, despite the neverending day. He spent a while going over the print-out again, trying to place any other possible suspects, but in the end he kept coming back to the idea that Red Hand referred to Scott Irvine and was probably a cruel set-up by someone to pin blame on him when he hadn't done anything wrong.

Could Scarlet really be responsible? He had been so outraged at the drive-by shooting against Yami Bakura and the Ishtar brothers that he had burst into Scarlet's home to demand answers, only to find none. She was still missing; he hadn't heard back from Roland yet.

And what about Hobson? Where on Earth was he and why had he left at all? Had he been abducted? The last anyone had seen of him had been when he had literally vanished into thin air while Yami Bakura was grabbing him.

At least Duke had recovered those bullets. Seto had taken them downstairs and had his master computer analyze them. To his frustration, they were from an unregistered gun. These people were professionals.

Finally he got up and headed for the stairs. Even he had to sleep, and he was at last ready to acknowledge it. He started unbuttoning his shirt as he went up.

He hadn't expected to find Mokuba standing in the hall outside his room, and yet somehow it wasn't fully a surprise. "What are you still doing up?" he asked.

"What are you?" Mokuba returned.

Seto grunted and went into his room, leaving the door open for Mokuba to follow. The younger boy did so, shutting the door after him.

"I _was_ asleep, Seto," he quietly admitted. "I had a dream that Gozaburo came out of his bedroom and wanted to take over the house and KaibaCorp again and he was trying to kill you. . . ." Tears pricked his eyes.

Seto growled. "We never should have had to go in that room again."

"It was awful in there," Mokuba agreed. "But it must have been even worse for you. . . ."

Seto looked away and took off his blue coat, draping it on a chair. "It wasn't pleasant." He clenched his teeth. The only times he had been in Gozaburo's room had been during some of the man's abusive sessions. Mokuba still didn't know everything Gozaburo had done, and Seto wanted it to stay that way. Mokuba needed to remain innocent for as long as he possibly could.

"I wish you'd talk to me more, Seto," Mokuba pleaded. "I know you don't want to tell me a lot of upsetting stuff, but I really want to help. . . ."

"What helps me the most is knowing that you don't know everything about what's happened," Seto replied. He took up his pajamas and vanished into the bathroom to change. He didn't care if Mokuba saw him, except for one important thing—he didn't want his brother to see the scars he still carried from the times Gozaburo had been physically abusive. Hobson had carried that blasted riding whip, but he had never used it. Gozaburo had saved that pleasure for himself. As far as Seto knew, Mokuba still didn't know about those times. He would never tell him if he could avoid it.

His hands shook. Going into that room tonight really had brought Gozaburo very close again. He could still feel what he had felt in there. He never would fully escape his stepfather's shadow, would he?

Steeling himself, he finished and went back into the bedroom. Mokuba was still there. He shifted, embarrassed but awkwardly hopeful. "Seto . . . can I stay with you tonight?"

Seto found he wasn't really surprised by the request. "Sure." He dimmed the lights and climbed into bed. Grateful, Mokuba crawled in with him.

"We haven't done this in a long time."

Seto smiled a bit. They hadn't, but now it almost felt like no time had passed at all. He closed his eyes and soon was dozing, in spite of thinking there was no hope for sleep. Mokuba had performed another little miracle.

xxxx

Duke lay awake come morning, just staring at his ceiling. He wasn't really sure he had slept much, if at all. He was still thinking about last night, or more specifically, the shooting. He had been okay at the time, or he had thought so, anyway—but ever since coming home by himself, the memories had been plaguing him. Trying to solve a mystery without calling the police, getting in over his head . . . a shooting. . . .

He rolled over in bed, trembling. One could never easily forget traumatic events unless they deliberately blocked them out, and he had never mastered the art of doing that. He remembered running into that hotel room so clearly . . . finding David fatally shot on the floor . . . being protected by him one final time as he died. . . .

He sat up. He wasn't going to let something like that happen again. He had felt it was Seto's and the Big Five's decision to call the police, but things were getting more and more dangerous. It was obviously only going to get worse. Maybe, since by now he was convinced of the identity of at least one police officer who was trustworthy, he should go to her himself and tell her everything that had been happening.

He cringed. He and Seto might get in trouble for taking the bullets. Still, he couldn't let that stop him.

Only . . .

He hesitated again. How would he explain supernatural things like mind-control? Could he bluff and mention Dr. Portman's likely involvement and say people had been drugged instead? His own mystery, the one that had killed David, had been devoid of supernatural elements, but this case was rife with them.

"Oh, ugh." He leaned forward, massaging his eyes. What they really needed was some kind of supernatural policemen, and there wasn't such a thing . . . was there?

Slowly he looked up. Could that possibly be what Atem and Yami Bakura were being groomed to be? The Millennium Items had been forged of evil and had been objects of darkness, but the Infinity Items had apparently been forged of righteousness and could only be objects of light. Atem and Yami Bakura were still trying to figure out all of their Items' intricacies, but Shadi likely knew all. He said he had been tasked with being the guardian of the Infinity Items, and he owned one himself, one that restored life if certain conditions were met.

"Shadi, we could really use you here right now," Duke muttered aloud. "I don't think you ever showed up to tell Atem about his priest Seto and Khu, either. Why are you always so hard to find when we need you?"

" _Sometimes you do not need me as much as you think,"_ came a voice from nowhere.

Duke jumped a mile and wildly looked around. No one was visibly there.

" _You already have everything you need to solve this mystery,"_ Shadi continued. _"You just have to align the puzzle pieces correctly and the solution will be there."_

"Me personally, or everyone in the group?" Duke retorted.

" _All of you together, but perhaps especially Seto Kaiba and Démas Lector. They already know the truth, although they do not know that they know it."_

"Well, that's helpful," Duke snorted. "Am I supposed to go tell them that?"

Now there was no reply. Muttering further to himself, Duke got off the bed and headed for the telephone. It sounded like today would be a weird day.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Neither Seto nor Lector was very happy by Duke's phone calls. And even Atem, when he was contacted, found himself feeling quite perturbed.

"So Shadi won't come to me to take a message to my priest Seto about Khu, but he'll talk to _Duke?_ " Atem exclaimed to Yugi after hanging up. "And about the current mystery?! Duke isn't even one of the main people affected by this madness!"

"Well, maybe Duke's more affected than anyone thought," Yugi said. "It can't be easy watching all of this stuff happen, even if it's not happening directly to you." He sighed. "We're not directly involved either, for that matter, except that so many of the people who are being hurt are our friends. And . . ." He looked down, tears pricking his eyes. "I know I'm affected. . . ."

Atem paused in his frustrated and hurt tirade and instead really took in the sight of Yugi's sorrow. "Yugi, I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I should have thought about how upset you'd be. I'm upset too, of course. And I don't mean any disrespect to Duke. I'm glad that he's being included. Shadi contacting him shows that he thinks Duke is important. It's just . . . well . . ." He sighed. "I feel like Shadi has been avoiding me since I came back. I haven't seen or heard from him at all, and ever since Khu reappeared, I've really needed to talk to him."

Yugi gave him a compassionate look. "I can't believe Shadi has been deliberately avoiding you, Atem," he insisted. "Think about what he said to Duke. Maybe you don't need him as much as you think you do. Maybe your priest Seto wouldn't be able to tell you much more about Khu than we already know. Maybe we know everything we need to in order to deal with him when he comes back."

Atem sighed. "It's a nice thought, at least. I'll try to see it that way."

"Meanwhile, Kaiba's called another meeting at his house," Yugi announced. "Mokuba's texting me about it now. We'd better grab breakfast and head over there."

"Yes," Atem agreed. "We should." He hesitated, then smiled and said, "Thank you, Yugi."

Yugi beamed. "I'm just telling it like I see it."

xxxx

After making all the necessary phone calls, Duke got a quick breakfast as well and prepared to head out for the meeting. He sighed, hesitating as he looked at his phone. He hadn't called David. Last night David had been taking care of the store and hadn't been available to participate in the madness. Today, especially with the deja vu memories swirling through his mind, Duke couldn't bring himself to call David even though part of him wanted to talk about everything. This was just like the past, with a dangerous case they were trying to solve on their own. He couldn't involve David. Something might go wrong again. David might . . .

Duke drew a shaking breath and shoved the phone back in his pocket. David would be upset later that he hadn't been told, but there was nothing for it. Duke just couldn't make himself do it.

He was just opening the door when he discovered Serenity on his doorstep, about to ring the doorbell. He stopped, blinking in utter surprise. "Serenity . . ."

"Hi, Duke," Serenity said softly. "Are you okay today? I got thinking about everything that happened last night, and . . . well, I realized you might be going through a lot of bad memories right now."

Duke heaved a sigh. Serenity already knew about things and would likely be attending the meeting. There was no point trying to keep anything from her, and Duke found himself genuinely relieved that here was someone he felt he could talk to without running the risk of further endangering her.

"You're right, I am," he said. "I've got that meeting at Kaiba's I'm running off to, and I'm not sure I slept much last night. And . . . I . . . couldn't tell David. . . ."

"I know," Serenity said, taking his arm. "I mean, I was afraid that's how you'd feel."

"It's too much like the past," Duke said. He pulled the door shut and walked back up the hall with her. "I just can't risk losing David again. . . . I can't. . . ."

"I'm sure you won't," Serenity soothed. "He's not even a target."

"But something could go wrong," Duke pointed out. "The wrong person could get hurt if a bullet ricochets or a car swerves and hits someone else or . . ."

"Duke." Serenity stopped walking and turned to face him head-on. "This is different from the past. You and David were fighting alone then, and then I found out your secret by accident. But just think of all of our loved ones who are involved now! You're not alone anymore. No one involved in this case is alone."

Duke considered that and finally, slowly nodded. "You've got a point. But I still don't know if I can call him."

"Well . . . you don't have to," Serenity said. She started walking again. When they reached the elevator, the doors opened and David stepped out.

Duke stared. "David?!"

"How do you think Serenity got here, my friend?" David smirked a bit but then sobered. "Oh Duke. . . . I would have come last night if I'd known."

"You were too busy with the Christmas shopping season," Duke said. "Then the shooting happened and everybody went their separate ways for the night. . . ." He got into the elevator with Serenity and David pressed the button for the ground floor.

"And you probably either had nightmares all night or didn't sleep at all because of thinking about it," David said.

"You two both know me so well," Duke grunted.

"I just wish I'd thought about it last night," Serenity said quietly.

"Hey, it was a long day and you were probably pretty shaken up too," Duke said.

"I was," Serenity said, looking down.

"But we're both here for you now, Duke," David said. "And at least we're not trying to solve something all on our own again."

Duke slowly looked up. "That's true." In that respect, it certainly couldn't be like the past. He had felt so alone and so afraid so many times back then, knowing that he and David were in over their heads. But now there were so many others to help out as well, even two magical item holders. Maybe everything would be okay.

"So we'll be fine," David soothed.

Duke wasn't as sure he could say that, but it did help. "David, I . . . I really wanted to call you," he said. "But I was too scared. I couldn't do it."

"That's what Serenity figured when she started thinking about everything this morning," David said. "And I was sure she was right."

"I'm . . ." Duke's voice caught in his throat. "I'm really glad you're here."

David laid a hand on Duke's shoulder. "Me too, Dukey-Boy."

Duke managed a smile. Even though he was still worried, he couldn't deny how comforting this was.

xxxx

Johnson was feeling somewhat better when he woke up that morning. He was, however, surprised to see Lector already awake and going over the list of their servants made the previous night.

"Good morning," he greeted. "Are you feeling better after yesterday?"

"Good morning," Lector replied, sounding distracted. "Yes, I am." But whether that was true was anyone's guess.

"What about Nesbitt? Do you know?"

Lector paused, frowning. "I believe he took a couple of sleeping pills last night in order to get to sleep. He didn't want to end up being up all night or waking up repeatedly from bad dreams."

Johnson frowned too. "Are you sure it was just a couple?"

Lector stared at him. "You don't really think . . ."

"I guess not," Johnson relented. "But I can't help worrying a little. . . . Nesbitt was so upset. . . ." He grabbed for his glasses on the nightstand between the two beds in the hotel room and got up, crossing to the door. To his relief, when he looked out, the daybed was empty. Nesbitt was awake.

"Well?" Lector demanded.

"He's up," Johnson said.

Lector relaxed. "Good." He had to admit he was chilled by Johnson's insinuation. He had never once thought Nesbitt would be so distraught about yesterday that he might try to kill himself. What if he had, and none of them had realized until it was too late? Badly troubled, he looked back to the list.

Johnson turned back to face Lector, seemingly unaware of how much he had shaken him up. "So, what are you doing?"

"I'm just looking this over to see if there's anything we've forgotten," Lector said. "That boy Duke Devlin called me on my cellphone a few minutes ago. He said something about being contacted by the guardian of those Infinity Items and that he was told Mr. Kaiba and I already know the solution to this mystery, even though we don't know we know it."

"Well, that sounds like fancy courtroom double-talk," Johnson grunted. "What could you possibly know without knowing you know it?"

"Obviously that's what I'm trying to figure out," Lector retorted. "But what would Mr. Kaiba know about any of the servants?"

"Maybe it's not about the servants," Johnson suggested. "If that angle isn't working, why not try something else?"

"I suppose I should," Lector said. "But that narrows down the field a good bit. Of the people we both know, there's Hobson and Dr. Portman and Yami Marik. . . ." His visage darkened. "And I'd still like to see him pay for what he did to Nesbitt yesterday. But I imagine it will be hard to find him unless he wants to be found."

"No doubt," Johnson said. "But don't forget that you were hurt yesterday as well."

"Oh, I can't forget that," Lector said. "That demon made sure to hurt Nesbitt by making him hurt me. I won't forgive that."

"You're angrier that Nesbitt was hurt than yourself?" Johnson wasn't really surprised, he supposed. As angry as Lector had been with Seto for taking away the position he thought he would have of running KaibaCorp, it had always seemed to Johnson that what made Lector the angriest of all was Seto betraying Mokuba and Gozaburo.

"Of course I am," Lector said with a frown and a raised eyebrow. He looked back to the list.

Johnson came over to Lector's bed. "So, do you have any other suspects?"

"Not really," Lector said. "Except for the possibility of Scott Irvine or Scarlet. . . . But it all seems too cut-and-dry, too simple. We're definitely missing a key piece. You know how Gozaburo always used to say . . ." But he trailed off, the sentence forgotten.

Johnson had never seen anyone turn so pale if they weren't near-death. "Lector?! What on Earth?!" he exclaimed.

"It can't be," Lector gasped. "It just can't be!" He looked through the list and then turned his attention to the last page, where Crump had listed every terrible thing that had happened during this madness. He seemed to be focusing on the account of the terrible feelings in both Gozaburo's room and Scarlet's house.

"Lector, what are you putting together?" Johnson demanded.

"Maybe nothing," Lector said. "I don't even like to say it at this point; it sounds so outlandish." He reached for his phone. "But I think I'll find out whether Mr. Kaiba has had any new thoughts."

xxxx

Seto was getting ready for everyone to arrive and pondering on the bizarre series of events that had made up this preposterous case. He frowned as he dressed, pausing to examine one of the scars Gozaburo had left on his arm. Even as a child he had preferred wearing long-sleeved shirts, but after Gozaburo had scarred him, that decision had become absolute. He would not display the physical reminders of what that man had done.

Going in that bedroom was still badly shaking him up. Spending the night with Mokuba had quelled the nightmares he had feared might come, and Mokuba had seemed to sleep well too, but now the dark feelings were coming back again.

It was strange that they had encountered two locations with ominous feelings last night. Scarlet's house had felt far worse than Gozaburo's room, but there had been the same sense of hatred, just more recent and more overpowering.

The same? . . .

No, it couldn't really be. . . . That was impossible.

Horror and fear crashed over Seto and he grabbed for the phone just as it rang. "Lector!" he burst out. "What did you feel at Scarlet's house?"

Momentarily taken aback, Lector quickly snapped to and replied, "I felt an extreme sense of hatred, Mr. Kaiba."

"Did it feel familiar?" Seto demanded.

"I suppose all hatred feels familiar to some extent, if you've personally experienced what it is to hate or be hated," Lector said. "But if you're asking what I think you're asking, yes, it did."

Seto snarled. "I felt it at the time, but I couldn't really believe it. How could it be true?"

"I don't know, Mr. Kaiba, but since we're both thinking it is, we'd better do something about it before anything else goes wrong."

"I'll tell everyone to meet me at Scarlet's house instead of here," Seto said. "Especially the Pharaoh and Yami Bakura." He scowled. "We're probably going to need their powers."

As he hung up and emerged from the bedroom, Mokuba was waiting in the hall. "Hi, Seto," he greeted. "Is everyone going to be here soon?"

"Change of plans," Seto replied. "They're not coming here. I have to go out to meet them somewhere else. And Mokuba, you are not to leave this house. Do you understand me?"

Mokuba stared at him. "What?! Why?!"

"I'll explain later." Seto hurried down the stairs and out the door without another word.

Mokuba stared after him. "Seto . . ." He clenched his fists. "I want to help. . . . And something must have gone wrong for you to change all the plans like this. . . ."

A flash of light and Yami Marik was standing before him. "Yes, and I don't want you to miss a moment of it," he sneered.

Mokuba gasped. "You!" He took a step back. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"Oh, but you will!" Yami Marik lunged and grabbed the child before he could run. Then, even as Mokuba kicked and screamed, they vanished.

xxxx

Everyone was bewildered by the changed instructions for the meeting, and bowled over by Seto emphatically insisting on Atem's and Yami Bakura's presence.

"Something is seriously up," Joey exclaimed. "Since when does Kaiba want magic around?"

"Kaiba knows more than he's saying," Atem said grimly. "Or at least, he's very afraid of something that he doesn't want to say out loud."

Roland's car was still parked on the street when all the cars started to pull up. But Roland was not watching Scarlet's house. Instead, he was slumped against the inside of the car door.

"What the heck?" Joey frowned. "He's usually so annoyingly efficient, but he's sleeping on the job?"

Atem stiffened. "Oh no. . . ."

Seto immediately knew something was wrong. As soon as the limousine stopped, he leaped out and ran over. "Roland?!" He shook the door handle and it opened. Roland slumped into Seto's arms with a groan.

"What happened to him?!" Téa cried as she got out of Solomon's truck.

Seto felt across the man's head. "He was struck. There's a bump here." His fingers ran over a sore spot under Roland's hair.

"Oh, poor Roland," Serenity gasped.

"I'll stay with him," Solomon volunteered. "The rest of you try to get to the bottom of this mystery. But be careful!"

"We will be, Grampa," Yugi promised.

They turned to face Scarlet's house.

"Uh . . . what's with all the fireworks?" Joey blinked. What looked like blue and purple lights were flashing and flickering at the front window.

"Christmas lights?" Crump suggested.

"Those don't look like Christmas lights," Téa moaned.

Seto didn't think so either. He ran up to the window, trying to peer through the half-open blind slats for some indication of what was happening. And though he couldn't see, he could hear.

"Everything's in motion, Sir," Scarlet was exclaiming. "All those I could find who have turned against KaibaCorp or tried to harm the Kaiba family are in the process of being punished. And thanks to Dr. Portman offering her services, along with that strange person she had with her, people such as Alister Mackenzie and Robert Nesbitt have been suffering through mind-control! Not to mention the butler Mr. Hobson. I wish I hadn't had to do that to him, but he wouldn't go along with our plans in his right mind. He said we were all insane. Can you imagine?"

The next voice they heard left them thunderstruck.

"Hmm, yes. Geniuses are always thought of as insane at first."

Seto went completely sheet-white. Lector, too, was turning pale. Even though they had suspected, it was too horrible to find it was real.

"It can't really be," he whispered.

The second voice continued. "Now it's time for the final part of my plan. Tonight, Seto and Mokuba will both die."

" _What?!"_ Scarlet shrieked. "B-But Sir . . . !"

"You really are naive, if you thought I'd leave them out. Seto betrayed me and KaibaCorp both! Mokuba will die in front of his eyes while he's helpless to do a thing about it. Then, he will die as well. And with both of them gone, I will assume control of KaibaCorp once again . . . in your body!"

"No!" Scarlet screamed. "I didn't want any of this! I wanted to avenge all those who have hurt Mr. Kaiba! I . . ."

Seto ran up to the front door and kicked it in for the second time in twenty-four hours. Everyone else chased after him. Scarlet was cowering in the middle of the living room. In front of her was a spectral form, crackling with dark spirit energy.

"Forget it," Seto snarled. "None of your plans are going to work . . . Stepfather."

Gozaburo Kaiba stood and glowered at the adopted son he had badly mistreated and outright abused. "So, you found out, eh? I was sure you would. Scarlet left a clue to her identity when she kicked off this plot by targeting the Big Five. But you weren't expecting this twist, were you?"

"Not until this morning," Seto said darkly. "I should have known you'd be back, but I foolishly believed you were out of my life for good once Noa's virtual world blew up."

Lector stared at Gozaburo, completely shaken. He had never ever known Gozaburo was involved in Noa's plans until after the fact. This was the first time he had seen the man since that horrible day at KaibaCorp when Seto had assumed control. "Sir . . ."

Gozaburo looked to him, unimpressed and cruel. "You and all your friends won't survive this either, Lector," he vowed. "You all betrayed me and I won't stand for it. I always planned to get back at you someday. I just never thought it would be like this."

"Sir, I am so sorry for what I did," Lector stammered. "I know it doesn't take away any of what happened, but I wanted you to know I regret it most deeply. I never thought you would take it so hard."

"I don't care," Gozaburo retorted. "You know I never forgave any mistakes. I certainly haven't changed on that now."

"But . . ." Gansley came forward, gripping his cane. "Aren't you dead now? Surely you don't have a body to return to. . . ."

"So what if I am?" Gozaburo snapped. "Do you think people change upon dying? They're still the same as they were in life."

"I think what Gansley means is wondering why you haven't been shown the truth that he apparently assumes everyone learns when they die," Seto said. "Some meaningful thing that makes people want to be their best self or have a change of heart, so to speak. But that wouldn't work on you, would it, Stepfather? You're too filled with hate to listen to something like that, even if God Himself told you."

The Big Five exchanged troubled looks. Indeed, Gozaburo certainly wasn't in any state to move on. He was stuck in the same rut that they had been in, and he was getting worse. He was what they could have been.

"I don't care about anything like that!" Gozaburo snapped. "Yes, you're right. Noa repented and moved on into the light. But I didn't, and I have more important things to think about, like taking revenge!"

Scarlet screamed as the hate-filled man began to transform to his flaming demon form. So did Téa, Serenity, and Joey.

" _What the heck is that thing?!"_ the Brooklyn boy screeched, his knees knocking.

Mai could only stare. Gozaburo was hideous, as ugly outside as he was on the inside. And he was lunging directly towards Seto.

"No!" Mokuba dashed out in front of Seto, desperately pushing him aside.

"Mokuba?!" Seto stared. "Where did you come from?!"

"That creep Yami Marik dumped me here," Mokuba told him. "But now I'm glad he did!"

"So am I!" Gozaburo sneered, reaching to claw Mokuba.

Yami Bakura snarled, running out in front of Mokuba. "Be gone!" he ordered. The Infinity Ring started to glow.

But Gozaburo simply leaped out of the way, letting the beam harmlessly strike the opposite wall. "You'll have to do better than that, Thief King." He let a flame form in his hand and threw it at Yami Bakura, who could only leap aside while blasting at the supernatural fire.

Seto grabbed Mokuba, pulling him towards the door. "Get out of here, Mokuba! And don't argue with me!" he ordered.

"Seto, no!" Mokuba protested. "I can't leave you here with him! I _can't!_ "

"We have to do something!" Yugi cried.

"We will," Atem said. He stepped forward, eyes narrowed in determination, and joined the fight along with Yami Bakura. To their alarm, Gozaburo found it very easy to throw flames at both of them, forcing them to put all their energy into putting out the fires.

Lector looked to the other members of the Big Five. "We have to do something too," he said. "This is a disaster we can't allow to happen."

He wasn't sure what kind of reception he would get, but they all nodded.

"I never thought I would say something like this, but Gozaburo is so poisoned by hate that he's practically lost all sense of being human," Gansley said.

"He's not human anymore at all," Nesbitt said.

"And we probably would've ended up like that if you hadn't really made us start to see what was happening to us," Crump said.

"We'll all help to bring him down," Johnson vowed.

Relieved, Lector looked back to the fight. "This is partially our fault for what we did to him those years ago," he said.

"Perhaps that's true, but don't forget that he made his own choices about how to react," Yami Bakura said as he somersaulted past, blasting another flame. "He could have chosen differently than he did, just as all of you could have when you were betrayed in turn."

"Well, we're going to now," Gansley said. "Although I don't know exactly what we can do to help out. . . ."

At that moment Mokuba screamed, bringing all of their attention up. He had tripped while dodging a fireball and Gozaburo was swinging his clawed hands directly at him. Marik grabbed him by one arm, pulling him to the side, but it didn't help. Gozaburo threw a fireball at Atem to keep him back and came closer.

"Now, Seto," he sneered, "witness the destruction of your younger brother and his best friend!"

"Over my dead body!" Seto roared. Everyone had scattered while the flames flew, but now he did an impressive martial arts flip to land in front of Mokuba and Marik. "You have no grudge against Mokuba, Gozaburo! Leave him alone!"

"You're right, I don't. But his death would be the best way to get revenge on you!" Still, Gozaburo studied the current scene and amended his plans. He would have to try another angle. But as long as he got what he wanted in the end, he didn't care how he achieved it. Seto wasn't going to move, which meant that there was only one thing to do. Without warning Gozaburo raked his claws across Seto's chest.

Seto couldn't refrain from screaming. When Gozaburo wasn't mortal, it wasn't the pain of physical wounds, but emotional and spiritual, that were digging deeply into his very heart and soul. The sudden act sent Seto flying across the room to crash on the floor near the wall.

Several screams went up then.

"No!" Scarlet cried in horror. "I didn't want this!"

"Kaiba!" Yugi, Atem, and Téa shouted.

" _SETO!"_ Mokuba's agonized wail cut everyone except Gozaburo to the core. He struggled, desperate to free himself and run over to his fallen brother, but Marik held fast.

"Mokuba, you can't go over there!" he exclaimed. "Gozaburo will just do the same thing to you!"

"No!" Mokuba continued to struggle. "I have to get to him! I have to! Maybe he's still alive!"

Lector looked to Gozaburo in stunned shock. "Sir, what did you do to Mr. Kaiba?!"

"Not nearly enough, but it's a start." Gozaburo threw a fireball at Yami Bakura and started to advance on Seto. "I've trapped him in every painful memory he has about me. While he's defenseless, desperately fighting against the past, I have only to deliver the finishing blow and he will die! Then it will be you fools' turns!" Without warning he turned, throwing multiple fireballs across the room at nearly everyone. It was all they could do to duck or dodge or run. Many of the flames hit the carpet or the walls or furniture. Instantly the room was ablaze.

Lector stared at the scene. There was no time to really decide what to do or how to act; Gozaburo was preparing to strike right now and no one else was close enough. He was still angry at Seto, but . . . but . . .

"Gentlemen, we really have no choice in this matter," he said. Without waiting for their reply he ran forward, positioning himself in front of Seto.

"Lector!" Gansley cried.

Gozaburo growled, actually surprised by this barrier. "You, Lector? You're going to protect the one you wanted so badly to take vengeance on?"

"I am," Lector said. "My anger at Mr. Kaiba hasn't faded, but . . . Sir, I don't want to ever become like you. We were all on a path of destruction, heading down the same road you took. I didn't want that and I tried to turn my life around. The others were willing to try it with me. I never thought it would come to this, but you've forced my hand. I won't be like you. I won't stand by and watch you destroy Seto Kaiba. I'll protect him first, in spite of my anger."

Gozaburo sneered. "You're a bigger fool than I thought. All I have to do is take care of you first instead of after Seto. You haven't solved anything."

"Maybe he has." Gansley came over now, standing next to Lector and placing both hands on his cane. "I will stand by him, even in this."

"Me too!" Crump ran over now.

"This isn't quite what you were expecting, is it, Gozaburo?" Johnson said smoothly as he followed suit.

Nesbitt stood, staring at them, clenching and unclenching his fists. Could he really join them? His anger at Seto ran very deep and very violent. And yet . . . he too was badly shaken by the sight of Gozaburo and what dwelling on anger and hatred had done to him. Anyway, could he let his friends take a dangerous stand like this and not join with them?

"Well, Nesbitt?" Gozaburo glowered at him. "Are you really going to be as idiotic as the rest of the Big Five? Why not join forces with me instead? I know you still hate Seto."

The others looked to Gozaburo in shock, then over at Nesbitt. None of them had expected that offer, but . . . surely Nesbitt wouldn't give in. . . .

Nesbitt started, looking at Gozaburo with outrage. "Join you? Kill my family, just because they've decided to take up with someone I still don't like?!"

"Crime families turn against each other all the time for reasons like that," Gozaburo sneered. "Anyway, you consider them your family? That pathetic group?"

"Hey!" Crump snapped.

"You could do so much better," Gozaburo continued.

Nesbitt narrowed his eyes. "No," he retorted. "I couldn't." He walked over and stood by Lector. "And even I won't be like you, Gozaburo."

Gozaburo glared at them all with hatred. "Then I will kill you all." He started to raise a hand.

The Big Five braced themselves.

"Stay strong," Gansley encouraged. "If Seto Kaiba can survive such an attack, there's always a chance. If we don't let ourselves fall into despair, we may survive as well."

"And if we don't . . . at least we're all going together this time," Crump said. He hesitated, then slowly reached for Johnson's hand.

Johnson started, but took hold of Crump's hand. The others, warming to the idea, grasped each other's hands. Gansley let his cane fall to the floor. He didn't need it right now.

The clawed hand never fell. Another, gruff voice rang out before it could.

"Chain Energy!"

The Big Five, and most others in the room, stared in shock. Gozaburo roared as heavy golden chains appeared and bound his arms to his sides. With his concentration broken, the demon form faded as he returned to human shape. He stood there, shaking in rage, as Yami Bakura and Atem came up next to him.

"What did you do?!" Gozaburo snarled. "How?!"

"It's a little trick I used to know," Yami Bakura sneered at him. "The act of turning cards real for a short amount of time. It's never worked with the Infinity Ring before, but I was desperate and decided to see again if it would cooperate. And what do you know, it did."

"Alright!" Joey cheered. "I never thought I'd be grateful for a creepy power like that!"

"Now, Gozaburo, we have no choice but to send you away," Atem said. "Perhaps someday you will have the change of heart that your son Noa had and that the Big Five have had. But for now, you are far too dangerous to be allowed to roam free in this realm."

Yami Bakura nodded in agreement. "Be consigned to the shadows for as long as your soul hungers for the darkness."

The Ring and the Puzzle both glowed. Even as Gozaburo yelled curses at them and Seto and the Big Five, he vanished into the purple fog. When he did, the magical fires vanished as well.

Everyone started to relax. "Is it over?" Serenity trembled.

"For now," Duke said, putting an arm around her. "But I wouldn't count out the idea that we'll see him again someday."

Mokuba ran to Seto and crashed to his knees next to him. "Seto!"

Seto was still very motionless. But . . . Gozaburo had said he was still alive, so . . . he surely was, wasn't he?

Lector knelt down next to Mokuba and reached to check for a pulse. Yes, it was there, and it was racing. Seto was still trapped in his memories.

"He's alive, Mokuba," he said. "But I'm not sure how to wake him up. . . ."

"Kaiba must find the way to do that himself," Atem said. "But you can help him, Mokuba. We can all help him. We must pool our energy and give him strength. He likely feels all alone right now. We'll shine our light and let him know he isn't!"

Mokuba nodded in determination. "Okay!" He gripped Seto's hand with both of his. "Come on, big brother. . . ."

One by one, the others bowed their heads, concentrating on Seto and trying to send their energy to him. Téa laced her fingers and looked at Seto. "You can do it, Kaiba," she whispered.

At last there was success. Seto stirred, slowly opening his eyes. "Mokuba?" he mumbled.

"Seto! Oh Seto . . ." Mokuba exclaimed for joy and leaped into Seto's arms.

Seto held him close. "You're alright, Mokuba?"

"Of course!" Mokuba said. "It's you we've been worried about!"

"I'm alright," Seto said. He sounded and looked amazed and in awe by that fact.

"Thank goodness," Serenity beamed.

"Gozaburo said he trapped you in your memories," Mokuba said softly.

"He did. I was lost in a world where Gozaburo ruled," Seto said, his voice darkening. "No matter how I fought, I couldn't break free. Then I felt something. I felt strength from you, Mokuba, and from everyone else in this room. Even . . ." He looked to the Big Five in shock.

"They tried to protect you from Gozaburo, Seto!" Mokuba told him.

"What?!" Seto stared.

Lector nodded. "Yes, Mr. Kaiba, we did. Now, I can't say that any of us aren't still angry with you for certain things you've done, but we all want to move on. We don't want to be held hostage by our anger and let it consume us as it has with Gozaburo."

Gansley nodded as well. "Let's consider this an official burying of the hatchet, shall we?"

Seto looked from them to the others. They all showed the same feelings, even Nesbitt.

"Yes," he said at last. "Let's. But don't think that means I'll rehire any of you."

"No need for that discussion," Gansley said. "We have our own plans going forward. Isn't that right, gentlemen?" He looked to the others, particularly Nesbitt. Was he going to stay with them, even on a project he wasn't so thrilled about?

"Yes," Nesbitt said. "I'll find a way to make it work for me. I'm staying."

"Great!" Crump cheered.

The others smiled. They had all survived, and they would all be staying together, forging a new future for them. It was the best outcome for all of them.

Mokuba beamed. "We're all really okay," he whispered in amazement.

"Even the house is okay," Serenity said.

"A little charred, but it'll live," Joey interjected.

"Too bad it's not as easy to put out the fire in Gozaburo's soul," Tristan frowned. "He's really lost it."

"He was that bad in Noa's world," Seto said. "Clearly he's even worse now."

"He really looked like some kind of demon," Lector said. He was clearly still haunted by the sight.

"Honestly? He probably is," Tristan said.

Yami Bakura nodded. "He gave up whatever was left of his humanity for the power of Hell. Just remember that it isn't all your fault that it happened," he added gruffly. "He made his own choice to become that."

"Logically, I may know that," Lector acknowledged, "but it may take a while for it to actually sink in." He heaved a sigh. "After all, I was never good at handling my responsibility for this mess."

"You went overboard not acknowledging it," Seto said. "It's also possible to go overboard the other way and acknowledge it too much."

"I suppose," Lector said.

"And Yami, that was wonderful, what you were able to do!" Bakura exclaimed.

Yami Bakura studied his deck. "I never thought it would work," he mused. "So such a power can be used for good."

"Yes," Bakura smiled.

"But you won't ever bring out Man-Eater Bugs or Headless Knights, will you?" Joey gulped.

Yami Bakura paused and looked up at him. "Oh, I don't know." He smirked. "It might be fun."

"Gah!" Joey wailed.

"Relax. I won't do it unless I need to." Yami Bakura stuck his deck back in his pocket. "I doubt the Ring would appreciate my using it for something frivolous."

"You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!" Joey yelled.

Yugi, Téa, and Bakura laughed.

Scarlet slowly got to her feet. "Mr. Kaiba, I'm so sorry," she trembled. "I never meant for things to go this far. Gozaburo came to me the other night and suggested getting back at all your enemies. I thought they should be taught a lesson, so I agreed. He never mentioned killing you and Mokuba was part of his plan. I guess I should have known, but . . . I didn't. . . ."

Seto glowered at her. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you now. But answer me a couple of questions. Where's Hobson now?"

"I don't know," Scarlet said honestly. "He really didn't want to be part of our plot. When he realized he was being mind-controlled by that Yami Marik person, he ran away to try to get away from him and the control and everything."

"Hmm," Seto frowned.

"That's the honest truth, Mr. Kaiba," Scarlet said. "Maybe if Yami Marik's lost interest in him, he'll come back."

"Hopefully," Seto said coolly. "Meanwhile, will you cooperate and tell us all of the people mixed up in your little plot?"

"I . . . I'll try," Scarlet said haltingly. "But the servant who masterminded the Big Fives' servants' plans . . . I'm not sure who that is myself."

"Well . . ." Crump sighed and stepped forward. "If you still want me to be a decoy, I'll do it to try to catch them. . . ."

"I have a different idea now," Seto said. "But yes, Crump, I'll use you for it. All of you, if you're willing to do a little play-acting." He looked to each of the Big Five. "It might hurt you a bit, but in the end it might keep you all safer than my original plan."

They exchanged uncertain looks. "Tell us what you want, Mr. Kaiba, and then we'll decide," Lector said at last.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

" _You didn't work hard enough!"_

 _Crack._

" _Never hard enough!"_

 _Crack._

" _Father, please! Please stop it!"_

" _Not until you deserve for me to stop!"_

 _Seto crashed to his knees. He was trapped in his memories of the past. Over and over, he experienced the unforgiving nights, forced to go without sleep until he perfected whatever Gozaburo insisted he master, whipped or otherwise beaten or sometimes emotionally tortured when he failed to deliver anything less than what the man would accept._

 _Part of him was bitter. How could Lector not see what Gozaburo truly was? How could he not know? And yet, he knew Gozaburo put on fronts, making himself appear a caring father when he wasn't. Even Mokuba didn't know the full truth. God-willing, he would never know._

 _The other part was despairing. How was he going to escape? Every time he tried, he just walked into another memory and was forced to participate as though it was the present. He was sinking deeper and deeper into his agony the longer this went on._

 _But then . . . then a light pierced the darkness of his memories, a light he recognized. "Mokuba," he whispered, looking up._

 _Other lights joined Mokuba's, and somehow he knew where each one belonged. There was Atem . . . Yugi . . . Téa? Joey . . . Tristan. . . . They were all adding their light, their hope, and the brighter the light became, the more Gozaburo's memory world began to crack and shatter._

 _Marik . . . Ishizu . . . Rishid. . . . Mai . . . Serenity . . . Duke . . . David. . . . Scarlet. . . . Bakura . . . Yami Bakura and the bikers, even. . . . They were all there, and they all wanted him to find his way back to them. Seto stood, gazing into the light in wonder._

 _Lector? . . . The rest of the Big Five?_

 _The light surrounded him, giving him the strength to push the darkness fully away and be caught up in the beam._

Seto started back to the present. They were en route to Crump's house, where they hoped to solve the other part of this twisted mystery once and for all. Mokuba was looking up at him in concern. "Seto . . . are you really okay?"

"Yeah," Seto assured him. "I am. I was just thinking about how I got out of that mess Gozaburo put me in. I still find it hard to believe, both that and how I escaped . . . and that everyone helped me, even the Big Five."

"I'm really glad they did, Seto," Mokuba said softly. "They distracted Gozaburo long enough for Yami Bakura to get the Infinity Ring to make his card real. They were even ready to die if they had to. . . ."

"To protect me?" Seto snorted. "Now that I do find hard to believe."

"It's true," Mokuba said softly. "Seeing what happened to Gozaburo really shook them up. I think . . . I think they're really all going to be okay now, Seto. None of them want to be like Gozaburo. They want to be good."

Seto grunted. "Well, we'll see if they succeed in that. Meanwhile, I'm still not sure what to do with Scarlet. I have the same problem that I did with the Big Five, not wanting the scandal that will come with a public arrest and trial, but also not trusting or wanting her in the company any longer. Maybe she started out just wanting to avenge wrongdoings done to us or the company, but her actions were jeopardizing the company! And it led to your being jeopardized as well, which is inexcusable. I don't want the Big Five working for me despite what happened today, and I don't want Scarlet working for me either."

"And she hurt Roland," Mokuba frowned. "When she came back and found him watching her house, she just went up to him and got him to open the door to talk to her and then she just hit him!" He looked down. "And he's still unconscious. . . . Mr. Muto had to take him to our medical center. . . ."

"I'm angry about that too," Seto growled. "Roland has never been anything but loyal; she had no reason to harm him."

"She didn't want him finding out about her sick meeting with Gozaburo," Mokuba said darkly. "I can't believe she was really working with him!"

"I wish I'd figured it out last night," Seto said. "I wasn't willing to believe I'd felt Gozaburo's presence in her house, not after being in his old room and trying to convince myself I didn't really feel anything."

"Seto . . ." Mokuba looked at him in surprise. "It's not your fault about Roland getting hurt. . . . Or about Gozaburo going after me. . . ."

"Roland shouldn't have opened the door to Scarlet when he knew we suspected her of wrongdoing," Seto said flatly. "But it's understandable that he did. She probably tried to make herself look innocent. Maybe she acted worried about her front door being damaged and he felt he had to talk to her.No, I don't blame myself for Roland being hurt. And it was Gozaburo who tried to hurt you. However, I'm angry that even when I try to protect you, something often goes wrong."

"This time it was because of Yami Marik," Mokuba said bitterly. "I'm so sick of being used against you. . . . I wish I could fight or do something, anything, that would help make me more useful."

"I doubt even a fighter would be able to do much against that thing," Seto retorted. "Mokuba, you are so much more than just 'useful.' I wish I could make you see that."

"I know," Mokuba sighed.

Seto's phone rang and he snapped it up. "Kaiba."

"We're almost there," came Joey's voice. "We just want to make sure we have the plan down."

"Everyone spreads out," Seto replied. "While the Big Five put on their little act, Mokuba and I'll be watching the staff and the rest of you will be looking for anything else they may have stashed somewhere in the house."

"Okay," Joey said. "But this had better work, Rich Boy."

"If you don't mess it up, it should be fine," Seto countered. He hung up.

 _Yeah . . . this had better work._

xxxx

All of the servants at Crump's house looked up with a jerk when Seto's limousine pulled into the driveway and four of the Big Five slowly got out. Solemnly, they reached back into the car and eased Crump's limp form out of the car and into their arms.

Several servants ran to the front door, including the female butler. "What happened?!" one of them exclaimed.

"Crump is dead," Gansley told them, his voice dark and hurting. "We were attacked while we were out. We thought we would be safer away from here, but instead . . . everything was only worse."

"Why are you bringing him back here?!" another one demanded.

"Why not?" Lector countered. "This is his home. And we're not ready to give him up yet."

Together they carried him up the steps and inside the house, then detoured to the living room and the nearest couch.

"Hey, you were supposed to take me upstairs," Crump hissed as they laid him down.

"Overruled," Johnson hissed back. "You're too heavy for us, Crump!"

Crump muttered under his breath.

Gansley grabbed the nearby penguin throw and draped it over Crump. "He said something before he died," he said coolly to the servants. "He caught a glimpse of the person who fatally hurt him. He said it was someone he trusted, so we are assuming it was someone who worked for him. He mumbled a name, but we're not sure exactly what was said. Therefore, we're asking each and every one of you to come up and introduce yourselves. Perhaps hearing your name will help us determine Crump's dying message."

The servants all looked at each other in stunned disbelief and dismay. Then, slowly, some of them came forward and said their names. Some of them looked sad or stunned, while others seemed singularly unmoved.

Outside, Seto and Mokuba watched through the window. "Whoever doesn't go up and quietly slips away is either the mastermind or someone who'll be calling them," Seto said.

"Are you sure everything started with somebody at Crump's house, big brother?" Mokuba asked.

"Frankly, no," Seto said. "But I'm hoping that whoever's guilty here will realize they're trapped if we catch them doing something suspicious."

It was Cora who refused to go up with the rest. Instead, she darted down a hallway and took out her phone. As she quickly dialed a number, Seto and Mokuba hurried to get inside while everyone was distracted.

"We've got a problem," she said into the phone. "Someone wasted Crump, but I don't remember being told that that was the next part of the plan. And the others are saying he identified the killer. It sounds like a set-up, a trick, but I'm not sure. What should I do?"

Seto came up behind her and snatched the phone out of her hand before she had a chance to end the call. Even as she screamed in outraged disbelief, he held it up to his ear while the person on the other end was speaking.

"Don't take a chance. Kill them all. Burn the house down if you have to; we'll still have the other four houses."

Mokuba smirked, holding up a digital recorder. Now they had the mastermind's voice.

Cora's eyes flamed. "I'm not burning down the house! That's what all this was about, after all—getting their houses and their wealth! I'm not being cheated out of my share!" She looked to Seto and Mokuba. "And I'll tell you who that is if you haven't figured it out."

"Unfortunately, I recognize that voice," Lector said as he came into the hall. "My trusted maid."

"I'll tell you everyone who was mixed up in this plot," Cora continued. "I'm not taking the fall alone."

"Good!" came Crump's voice as he threw back the throw. "That's just what we were hoping for."

Cora went stiff, while one of the younger girls fainted. "So it _was_ a trick," Cora said bitterly.

"That's right, honey," Crump said. "Although we figured I'd be next in line to be attacked. We just decided to speed things up a bit and see what would happen if we just _said_ I'd been attacked."

Cora gave him a dark glare. "I really hate you."

"That's too bad, because I've always liked you," Crump returned.

xxxx

"This place is really big. Not to mention really messed-up."

Marik looked to Téa as she complained while they wandered down the extensive halls. Penguins were everywhere: statues, figures, paintings. . . . Even some of the door handles were penguin-shaped.

"Well, he certainly has a one-track mind," Marik remarked. "Although it seems fairly harmless."

"Except when he tries to freeze people in time," Téa muttered.

"I tried to have you crushed," Marik said quietly.

". . . Good point." Téa sighed. "I guess it's possible that I could come to like Crump. I have to admit he's been helpful today. I really wasn't expecting all of the Big Five to try to protect Kaiba."

"I doubt any of us did," Marik said.

"I never thought any of them could possibly be redeemed," Téa continued. ". . . But I used to think the same about you. And Kaiba. I was wrong every time."

"I'm amazed that I've been shown such forgiveness and friendship after everything I did," Marik said.

"Yugi is a really incredible guy," Téa said softly.

"All of you are incredible," Marik said. He stepped forward and suddenly the floor gave out from under him. "What?!"

Téa stared as he fell down a chute. "Marik?!" Worried, and not knowing what else to do, Téa followed him down. He crashed with a grunt and seconds later, Téa sprawled across his back. "Where are we?"

"I think we're in the basement," Marik said. He waited for Téa to move and then knelt on the floor, taking out his phone to shine it around the darkened room. He stiffened when the light hit upon a motionless form against the wall.

"What's that?!" Téa exclaimed.

Marik went over. "It's Hobson," he realized. "He's bound and gagged. . . . Not that the gag was necessary; I don't think he's conscious." He bent down. "He's still alive. . . ."

"Oh wow, this is too weird!" Téa cried. "Why are Crump's servants keeping Hobson in the basement?!"

"It won't be long and we'll hopefully find out," Marik said. He started untying the man's bonds.

xxxx

They did indeed find out before long. Cora, still loudly refusing to go down without taking their mastermind down with her, was all too willing to tell about Hobson when asked.

"Like Scarlet said, he called her and Gozaburo and the rest of us insane," she said. "Since Scarlet's plan was to attack everyone who had betrayed KaibaCorp, we had all mutually decided to work together since she wanted the destruction of the Big Five as much or more than we did. She just wasn't counting on Hobson balking. He wouldn't go along with our plans, so that weird guy mind-controlled him. But then he broke free of the control and tried to run away. Scarlet hit him over the head and knocked him out and told us to keep him here since the Big Five had decided to go to Lector's place. She figured no one would look for him here and he'd really outlived his usefulness. But since he was loyal to KaibaCorp and the Kaiba family, she didn't want to kill him."

"How thoughtful of her," Mai said with dripping sarcasm.

Seto was frustrated. "So she lied when she said she didn't know where he was?!"

"Actually, some of us were going to kill him," Cora said. "I called and told her he'd escaped again so she wouldn't think he was still here."

Seto rolled his eyes. "Great."

"How is he?" Mokuba asked. "I mean, Marik and Téa found him unconscious. Was that still from Scarlet hitting him?!"

"No," Cora said. "He woke up after that and really did try to get away, so I clubbed him."

"You're all heart," Mai grunted.

"I've called for an ambulance," Marik said. "And Crump's called the police. We don't really have a choice in the matter now."

"We don't," Seto agreed. He would just have to deal with the bad publicity if it happened again, although maybe most of it would fall on the Big Five this time around.

"I also called and talked to Mr. Muto," Marik continued. "Roland is still unconscious. The doctors aren't sure he'll wake up."

Mokuba looked down, stricken. "Oh no. . . ."

"What the heck did Scarlet hit him with?!" Joey cried indignantly. "A brick?!"

"She didn't say," Seto growled. "But obviously it was a brutal attack."

"I think she'll be really upset if he dies," Serenity said quietly. "But I'm upset that she hurt him too." She clenched a fist. "I really don't understand why anyone wants to hurt anyone else."

"Be glad you don't understand," Nesbitt gruffly told her.

Serenity nodded. "I am. . . . But I still wish it didn't happen at all."

Mokuba looked up at Seto. "When we can leave here, big brother, I want to go see Roland. . . ."

"We will," Seto said. Although he doubted it would do any good.

xxxx

It was bittersweet when the police arrived to arrest and question everyone who had taken part in the plot against the Big Five. The other guilty servants were being rounded up at the other homes as well, thanks to Cora's confession. Gabrielle Valesquez, a police officer who had long known Seto, Solomon, Duke, and others in town, frowned at the Big Five as she took one handcuffed girl past them on the front lawn.

"You should feel really lucky that this hasn't happened to any of you for your shenanigans," she commented.

"We do," Gansley said.

"Only luck didn't have anything to do with it," Lector said. ". . . It was Mr. Kaiba."

Gabrielle smiled. "Maybe there's hope for you yet."

Mokuba beamed when she went past. "Yeah . . . there is." He looked to Lector. "And I'm really happy there is."

Lector looked down at him, hesitated, and then dropped down to Mokuba's eye level despite the snow around them. "I've never understood why you wanted so badly to save me, Mokuba. . . . Or why you liked me when I was looking after you. I was dutiful, but I don't recall being especially sociable."

"You were nice," Mokuba said softly. "Gozaburo was mean and Hobson creeped me out. You were . . . well, normal. You don't know how much that meant right then. And until you betrayed us, I always felt like you weren't just doing stuff because you were asked to. . . . Well, maybe at first you were, but then later . . . it really felt like you started to care. Of course . . . that made it hurt even worse when you turned against us. I felt like I'd lost a friend. I wondered a lot about if you really cared. I didn't know if it would make it better or worse to find out the answer, but I wondered sometimes if you did and you could be saved. When I found out you still tried to protect me after that, I . . . didn't know what to think. The betrayal still hurt, but . . . I really felt there was hope. Now you're okay and I'm so glad. And . . . I have my friend back." Hesitant at first, the boy finally leaned in and hugged Lector around the neck.

Lector stared at him, stunned. Then, slowly, he returned the gesture, holding him close. "I wouldn't be here if not for you, Mokuba. Thank you . . . for helping me find myself again."

Standing near Seto, Téa smiled. "Aww . . ."

"Mokuba's goodness has changed a lot of hearts," Seto said gruffly but sincerely. The pride in his eyes and voice was obvious.

"And then the people whose lives he's touched change other hearts," Téa said. "What he did for Noa saved all of our lives. What he did for Lector is helping to guide the other members of the Big Five to their redemption. And what he's done for you . . ." Her voice lowered. "I think he's kept you human and helped you open your heart to having all of us as friends."

"That's true," Seto said, folding his arms.

Téa shifted. "I know you still don't like social events, though, Kaiba . . . but I was just wondering if . . . well, if you and Mokuba might like to come to the Christmas dance at the community center? It's more than just dancing," she rushed on. "There's food and caroling and . . . well, I thought Mokuba might have fun and . . ." She trailed off. It wasn't normal for her to babble like this. But it also wasn't normal to not want to scream at Seto and to instead badly want to be friends.

"He probably would," Seto said, filling in the loud silence. "And you're right that it's still not really my thing, but . . . we might come. Especially if Mokuba wants to."

Téa blinked rapidly. He really hadn't said No? Why did that make her so happy? "That's great," she exclaimed with a bright smile. "I hope I'll see you both there then."

"You might." Seto turned away, similar thoughts running through his mind. Why was he so pleased? Why had he even accepted?

Having friends was an interesting and unusual experience indeed.

Lector, meanwhile, was looking around for the other members of the Big Five. Most seemed to be talking with police officers, except for Nesbitt. He came over to Lector instead of waiting for Lector to make the first move. "How are you feeling?" he gruffly asked.

"I'm alright," Lector said in some surprise. "But how about you, Nesbitt? I know you took sleeping pills last night. And you've been fairly scarce and unwilling to talk today. I feel like you've deliberately avoided it."

Nesbitt looked away. "You're right. I still feel shame and guilt for yesterday. To have been mind-controlled like that, I feel completely violated. Cora admitted it was Crump's butler who hit Gansley, but that doesn't take away what I did to you or that I tried to hurt Gansley the same way. I took the pills to have some relief from the agony I was feeling, but once they wore off, nothing had changed."

"I'm sure it will take a long time for you to come to terms with what happened," Lector said. "But I meant what I said yesterday, and I know the others feel the same way. We want you to come to us when you're struggling with the pain. I know I don't want to see you relying on pills to get by. Sleeping pills now and then are harmless enough, but what if you try taking them all the time because the pain won't go away? Once they stop being effective, what's next?"

"I have no intention of that," Nesbitt said.

"Good," said Lector. He paused. "And I know it's a two-way street. I and the others should check on you when you don't come to us. I'm used to leaving you alone and figuring you'll talk if you want to, but in reality I know that you're such a private person, it probably won't happen. I'm the same way; Crump had to draw me out."

Nesbitt smirked a bit. "Crump . . . yeah, he came to me a couple of times last night. I'm sure if you don't, he still will." He sighed. "But talking . . . doesn't make the pain go away. I don't know that anything will. Crump talks about not thinking of the What Ifs, but even not doing that, it's bad enough. I tried to kill two of my best friends!" He trembled, his voice cracking.

"You didn't do it, Nesbitt!" Lector insisted. "It was that creature, using your body like a puppet!"

"Well, that's bad enough!" Nesbitt spat. "If I'd been stronger, maybe it wouldn't have happened at all!"

Pain flashed through Lector's eyes. "If he ever dares to show his face around here again, I'll find a way to avenge you on him. I'll never forgive him for what he's done to you."

"You can't fight him," Nesbitt objected. "No one can."

"Obviously they can, or he couldn't keep getting beaten back," Lector said. "And you defeated him too. His control over you completely shattered."

"After you were laying hurt," Nesbitt retorted. "It took actually blasting you to shock me back to myself. You were unconscious, so you don't know what it was like."

"No," Lector conceded, "I don't. But I do know how I would have felt in your position." _I would have never forgiven myself. And I don't want that for you. I want you to be able to heal._

"So what are we going to do?" Nesbitt asked.

"I don't know," Lector said, "but I'll find a way. Maybe this is something only time will heal. I'll be there for you on every part of your journey. I know the others will too. And I suppose . . . right now, that's all I can offer."

Nesbitt slowly nodded. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I don't feel worthy of your or the others' concern and caring, but you don't know how much it means to me that you haven't all abandoned me. It means everything."

"We'll never abandon you," Lector promised.

"I was going to abandon all of you in Noa's world," Nesbitt said. A haunted look passed through his eyes.

Lector sighed. That was one elephant in the room that they had never really discussed. "Johnson was right, though, that you thought we'd all still make it out, didn't you?"

Nesbitt looked away. "I want to say that's what I was thinking. I think it was. But I'm not actually sure. I was just so desperate to leave. . . . If I actually had made it out, I know I would have missed all of you and I think I would have regretted leaving you. I would have had a life back, but not my own. I would have felt so empty. Maybe not at first, but before long." He looked back. "What were we thinking? We would have been forced to take on those kids' lives. It would have taken us years to have any hope of getting back to some semblance of the lives we had under our own identities."

"We weren't thinking," Lector said. "We were all desperate and frightened. Not to mention being consumed by anger and hatred and confusion. Seeing Gozaburo today . . . well, that really drove it home."

Nesbitt nodded. "For everything I did to you and the others . . . and those kids . . . I'm sorry."

Lector laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry too."

Gabrielle approached them now. "Mr. Nesbitt, we need your statement," she said.

Nesbitt drew a deep breath. "Alright." He glanced at Lector and then walked off to the side with her.

As Lector observed, Yugi suddenly appeared. "Hi, Lector," he greeted.

"Hello," Lector said in some surprise and some not. It wasn't the first time Yugi had sought him out.

"I'm sorry about your maid," Yugi said.

"Yes, well . . . it's not the first time I've been betrayed," Lector said. "Although it still hurts and I'm angry. I always treated her and my other servants with respect, and she turned against me because she'd had a taste of power and liked it so much, she couldn't bear to go back to what she had before." He heaved a tired sigh. "But then I've gone on power trips too."

Yugi nodded. "You're learning. And at least now you hopefully know that there are some people you can rely on, even though some people do betray you."

"I do," Lector agreed. "I believe I'm starting to get a real good image of who my friends truly are."

"I hope maybe you'll consider me and the others your friends too." Yugi held out a hand.

Lector regarded him in surprise. He would have scoffed at such a thing before. And it still bowled him over now, even though he was more deserving of it than he had been in the past.

Finally he took Yugi's hand. "I'd be honored."

xxxx

Solomon stood when he heard footsteps down the hospital hall. When the door opened and Seto and Mokuba entered, he relaxed. "I'm glad you two are here," he told them. "I'm sure Roland could really use your visit right now."

"He won't even know we're here," Seto objected.

"He might," Mokuba said. "Like when you felt the light from everyone and you were able to wake up, Seto."

Seto grunted and didn't protest further.

"How is your butler?" Solomon asked. "Marik told me he was found hurt as well."

"Not as badly," Seto said. "He's down the hall, awake and giving his statement to the police."

Solomon sighed. "I'm glad of that. But even one person badly hurt is too many."

"Especially someone like Roland," Seto said. He gripped his arms. "And Yami Marik and Dr. Portman are still at large. They'll no doubt show up again when we least expect or want it."

"We'll deal with that when it happens," Solomon said.

Mokuba climbed onto a chair next to the bed. "Hi, Roland," he said softly. "The doctor said you got hurt really bad. I'm so sorry. . . . But you're going to be okay, aren't you? Things would never be the same without you. . . .

"Seto's here too, and Yugi's grandpa. . . . Everyone's worried about you. I think they're all coming. You're lucky this is KaibaCorp's medical center and not some other hospital with its stupid rules about family only and stuff. . . . What if there's no family around? They should let in anybody who really cares! This place does."

Seto didn't really feel like talking, especially with someone other than Mokuba there, so he folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Hatred really did do terrible things to a person's mind. Scarlet had apparently become so caught up in her self-appointed mission to punish everyone who had betrayed the Kaiba family that she hadn't stopped to think about the consequences of harming someone who was loyal to try to keep him out of the way. She had punished an innocent person, and what was more, by harming him she was hurting KaibaCorp and the Kaiba family. Roland was one of his most valuable employees.

Silence in the room brought his attention back to the present situation. Mokuba had clasped his hands and was apparently praying. Solomon looked like he was silently joining in.

Seto sighed to himself. Would God answer, at least with a Yes? He just didn't understand how God operated and he probably never would. Although he had to admit that now it did look like the Big Five still had some purpose to play and that it had been a good thing for their lives to have been spared. He never would have believed that before.

He jumped a mile when Roland actually stirred and groaned, slowly opening his eyes. ". . . Mokuba? . . ."

Mokuba perked up, his eyes shining with joy. "Roland! You're awake!"

Solomon smiled. "Thank goodness."

Seto allowed a bit of a smile as well. Sometimes, things actually did go right.


	15. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The Domino City Community Center Christmas dance was in full swing. A local band was playing Christmas songs both religious and secular, in various music genres. Many people were dancing. Those who preferred other forms of entertainment were hovering around the food tables or talking with other like-minded attendees.

Serenity smiled as she and Duke danced to a jazzy rendition of _Home for the Holidays._ "This has been a wonderful evening," she said. "Everyone's safe and happy and ready to celebrate one of the most beautiful holidays we have. Joey even decided to try dancing so he could dance with Mai."

Duke looked to where Joey was perhaps getting a little too wild with his improvised dance moves. By now, however, Mai had tried to learn how to anticipate him and was unfazed by his crazy jumps and spins. She was countering with some wild yet more practiced dance moves of her own.

"Well, this is one dance Mai probably won't forget for a long time," Duke commented wryly.

"I think she was really touched by Joey wanting her to come, though," Serenity smiled. "And I think she's having fun."

"Meanwhile, Mokuba is perfectly content to hang out with the cookies," Duke smirked a bit. "And Kaiba has mostly been leaning against the wall, watching him."

"I'm surprised they came at all," Serenity said. "Well, Kaiba, anyway. Mokuba kind of likes community events, but Kaiba isn't really big on anything that he isn't organizing himself. Especially if it doesn't have anything to do with business or dueling."

"And Téa's been stealing the show on the dance floor, even when she doesn't have a partner," Duke remarked. Téa was indeed having a blast, dancing up a storm to the jazzy music. The other dancers often made room for her and stood back, just enjoying her performances on the various songs.

"And Yugi and Atem have danced with her on some songs," Serenity said. "I'm glad."

"She is too, I'm sure," Duke said. "And Yugi and Mokuba both invited the Big Five. And they actually came."

"Poor Crump's trying to get some of the young girls to dance with him," Serenity chuckled. "A few actually have."

"Well, they must be desperate," Duke grunted. "Or they're nice girls and feel sorry for him."

As the current song ended and everyone clapped in appreciation of the band, Téa suddenly spotted Crump coming towards her from across the room. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she groaned.

"Well, why not?" Crump smirked as he came to stand in front of her. "The next song is going to be something slower, so I could keep up better. We're not at odds anymore, are we?" He held out a hand to her.

Téa finally sighed and took his hand in acknowledgment. "Okay. One dance."

As they calmly moved across the dance floor, Téa decided she would have to make conversation. Maybe that would make this very awkward situation a little less awkward, or so she hoped.

"So . . . how are you and the other guys doing?" she asked. "It's been a few days now. . . ."

"Oh, we're fine," Crump said. "We're hiring new servants to replace the messed-up ones. You don't know of anybody who might be interested, do you?"

"Nope, sorry," Téa said, unable to refrain from eye-rolling.

"Oh well," Crump shrugged, not too bothered.

"How are Nesbitt and Lector?" Téa wondered. She found she genuinely wanted to know the answer to that. "I know Nesbitt was really struggling because of what Yami Marik made him do."

"Lector's fine," Crump said. "Nesbitt . . . I think he'll be okay with some more time. He's getting there."

"I'm glad," Téa said, and sincerely meant it. "I can't think of anything worse than being forced to attack your loved ones."

"Me either," Crump said. "And there hasn't been any trace of the guy who did it to him."

"Oh, he'll be back, you can bet on that," Téa said darkly. "Dr. Portman too."

"Yeah. That's what we're afraid of," Crump said.

"It's good reason to be afraid," Téa said.

Téa was definitely relieved when the dance was over. But at least, she had to admit to herself, Crump had been a gentlemen, unlike in Noa's world . . . or even on their misadventure a couple of months ago.

She went over to where Seto was still leaning against the wall, now watching her as well as Mokuba. "Hi, Kaiba," she greeted. She had spoken to him when he and Mokuba had first arrived, and he had responded before moving to his current location.

"Alright, I'll admit that you actually managed to surprise me," Seto grunted. "Dancing with Crump?"

Téa sighed. "Well . . . the Big Five aren't our enemies anymore. . . . I guess I thought it would be a nice gesture. But hey, aren't you going to dance at all?"

"We both know I'm not into that," Seto said.

"I know, but what about just one dance? Here, I can show you how it goes," Téa offered. "I promise it won't be anything wild." This time she was the one holding out a hand.

Maybe it was just not to make a scene for publicity reasons. Or maybe Seto was actually curious as to what Téa was planning or why she was extending such friendliness to him. But he took her hand and pushed away from the wall. "Alright," he said. "Show me."

Joey looked over, and his jaw dropped. "What the heck?!"

"Téa's just full of surprises tonight, isn't she?" Mai remarked. "Although now Kaiba is too. Who would have thought he'd actually agree?"

Mokuba was beaming. "This is great!" He looked up at Marik, who had also been largely hanging around the dessert table when he could escape the girls flocking around him. Bakura, of course, had been having much the same problem.

Marik smiled, happy to see Mokuba so happy. "Your brother really is starting to open up to us."

"It's starting to be kind of how it used to be, before Gozaburo," Mokuba said softly. "Seto is smiling again . . . having fun again. I didn't think I'd ever see that again."

Yugi smiled too. "I'm really happy for both of you, Mokuba." He looked to Atem. "And what do you think of your first Christmas dance?"

Atem started. "Oh . . . er . . . it's interesting," he said. "I'm surprised by all the attention we've been getting. . . ."

"The consequences of fame," David intoned. "You haven't been entering tournaments lately, but Duel Monsters fans still remember you from the ones you were in."

". . . That makes sense," Atem said.

Ishizu and Rishid came over to their group after engaging in a fun dance as siblings. "That was nice," Ishizu said. "There are so many people here. . . . I believe I've seen everyone except the bikers."

"They're here," Marik said. "According to Alister, Valon wanted to come in the hopes of dancing with Mai. Alister is probably hiding somewhere. . . ." He looked around.

"Raphael's talking to that man over there," Rishid noted.

"I think that's his boss," Mokuba said.

"So I'm still unclear on one thing," Tristan said. "Who put the bomb in Lector's mailbox? Was that really Alister, being controlled?"

"It was Lector's maid, using Alister's coat and the hat from Crump's guest closet," Marik said in disgust. "Then, after she ran off and disappeared, Yami Marik gave the hat to a mind-controlled Nesbitt to take back, hoping to implicate him as the bomber."

"Sick," Tristan scowled.

"It sure is," Mokuba said. "But I'm glad it wasn't Alister. I know he must be relieved."

"Definitely," Marik said.

Yami Bakura took a large bite of chocolate cookie and crumbs flew in all directions.

Bakura went red. "Yami . . ."

"What?" Yami Bakura grunted.

"Remember, you were going to try to practice good manners in public, at the very least," Bakura sighed.

"'Try' being the key word," Yami Bakura answered.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "And still the girls come after you."

Yami Bakura laughed. "They appreciate my physique, no matter what kind of terrible table manners I display."

"They appreciate something, that's for sure," Tristan grunted. But he wasn't too bothered, really. Serenity had danced with him a couple of times, and even though he knew that she saw him as a friend and a second brother, it still made him happy.

The Big Five were also observing.

"Well, Crump, you actually got that girl to show you some attention," Gansley remarked. "And some others."

"Of course, probably only because it's Christmas," Johnson said.

"Eh." Crump shrugged. "That's okay. At least there's one time of year when they appreciate me."

Nesbitt grunted and leaned against the wall, folding his arms. "Why is it we decided to come here anyway?"

"Just to check it out," Crump said.

"And because we were invited," Lector mused. "We didn't want to turn down a thoughtful invitation. Or at least I didn't."

"You've had better luck getting the girls to dance with you," Crump said. "Southern charm?"

"I suppose," Lector drawled. "That, and I'm willing to accept a greater age range than you are, Crump."

Gansley smirked in amusement at the banter. "My dancing days are past and Nesbitt isn't interested. And you seemed to be more interested in talking to people, Johnson."

"I'm promoting our plans," Johnson said. "It doesn't hurt to get an early start on publicity."

"Actually, dancing itself is interesting," Nesbitt said. "As a kendo master, I appreciate the complex moves it takes to get a dance right. What I don't like is that it's often associated with some type of romantic interest, which I do not have."

"Sometimes you really do act like a machine," Crump complained. "How can you not have any interest in beautiful girls?"

"I find submarines and tanks beautiful," Nesbitt said. Suddenly realizing a passing stranger was looking at him funny, he quickly added, "But I'm not attracted to them _that_ way!" He scowled.

Johnson laughed.

Téa and Seto danced past them, bringing their attention up.

"Kaiba and Téa, huh?" Crump mused. "Maybe there really was something to my thinking that taking her was a good way to get at him. Not that it matters now."

Johnson nodded. "We've moved on. It's a strange feeling, though not a bad one."

"I feel . . . free," Gansley said. "Now that I'm not bogged down by thoughts of constant revenge."

"Of course, it doesn't hurt that we really are free now," Nesbitt grunted. "We have our bodies and can really move on. It would be much more difficult to move on if we were still wandering spirits like Gozaburo."

"Lector wanted to move on whether he had his body or not," Gansley pointed out.

"I'm sure the rest of you would have wanted to eventually," Lector said, feeling slightly embarrassed to be hailed as the reason why the others had changed.

"I honestly don't know about that," Nesbitt said. "We were all feeling hateful. We didn't even remember how much we care about each other by the time we got to the Shadow Realm." He looked haunted. "It was a dark time."

"Well, it's over now," Lector said. "Hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again."

"I don't think it will," Johnson said quietly.

Téa, meanwhile, was smiling. She had never thought she would enjoy dancing with Seto, but it was honestly fun. And Seto seemed fairly relaxed and not tense, to her further surprise.

"You're doing really well," she told him. "You caught onto the rhythm really quick."

"I always was a fast learner," Seto deadpanned.

"So be honest," Téa said. "This isn't so bad, is it?"

"No," Seto said. "But you realize we're going to be all over the newspapers tomorrow morning."

Téa blinked. "Seriously?"

"There's always someone with a camera who manages to report on whatever I'm doing," Seto said matter-of-factly. "It's just something someone in my position has to expect."

"Well, that's messed-up," Téa scowled. "Don't people have anything better to do?"

"Not usually," Seto said.

As the song ended, the community center director went up to the microphone on the stage. "Alright, everybody!" she called. "It's time for Christmas carols! Gather around and sing!"

Téa looked to Seto. "Are you going to sing?"

Seto grunted. "I wouldn't, except Mokuba will want me to." They had used to sing carols, long ago when their parents had been alive. Mokuba had always longed for that experience again. Although Seto cooperated for Mokuba's sake, his heart hadn't been in it like when they were both children. Mokuba wished for those days to return, although he knew it was unlikely. Seto was too cynical and he didn't like revisiting the past.

"Then it'll be a good experience!" Téa insisted.

Yami Bakura grunted too. "I don't sing. Nor would _anyone_ want me to."

"Probably right," Tristan quipped. He couldn't imagine that gravelly voice sounding good on a song.

"Oh Yami," Bakura chuckled. "Here, you can just follow along on the lyrics sheet. There'll be so many people singing, no one will even hear you."

"Then why should I bother?" Yami Bakura countered.

"It would be fun," Bakura said.

"That is a matter of opinion," Yami Bakura retorted.

In the end, the entire group did band together and they all did sing. Mokuba beamed as he saw both Seto and Marik joining in. He had dreamed of something like this for some time. He still deeply missed his and Seto's parents and he always would, but this Christmas really was starting to feel like the old ones that he loved so much. Seto was opening up more and their extended family now included so many friends. Mokuba smiled up at Lector as they all launched into _Silent Night._


End file.
